Where We Go From Here
by LucindaRemyMalfoy
Summary: Hermione Granger, 20 and divorced, no kids, and works at the Ministry of Magic. Draco Malfoy, 21 and entitled, biggest git you'll ever meet, also known as 'London's Playboy'. What starts off as a forced arrangement turns into so much more when the two are forced to look at the lives they've been leading since graduation. A story about moving on and learning 'where we go from here'
1. Chapter 1

**The rating is based on future chapters, if I write any. **

**Okay, I'm not sure if I'm going to continue with this idea, so leave me reviews and tell me if you'd like to see where I could take this story, if not I'm always open to suggestions about a story I should write, whether it be chapter or otherwise.**

**So yeah, I guess just let me know. (:**

* * *

**HPOV**

I had my life all planned out from the moment I left Hogwarts.

I would marry Ron, work at the Ministry of Magic in the Magical Creatures Department, live in a nice house, and have great friends.

Everything had been going just as I'd planned.

Ron and I got married right after we graduated, and things were amazing.

At first.

After a year things got...worse. He had a short temper, which I'd always known, but it seemed to get considerably worse. He'd say horrible things to me and - well he just wasn't a pleasant man to be around.

I tried to make it work though. I tried to be a good wife and fix it - but it was far too broken.

A year and a half into the marriage he started cheating on me - well he could have been cheating on me before then, but he didn't make it known.

But I knew then, and it broke my heart a little more each time I saw a lacy pair of panties that weren't mine, a lipstick stain on the collar of his shirt - all these little things, things he did just to spite me - they all broke my heart.

I filed for a divorce after one year and ten months of marriage.

Merlin, I would never forget his face when I handed him the papers. He looked about ready to murder me - and I'm sure he would have had I not had the common sense to have my lawyer there with me.

Ginny and Harry had been shocked when I told them.

Not that I was surprised, we seemed like the perfect couple, because that's how he wanted it. So perfect that not even his sister knew how messed up everything was.

And _Merlin,_ the press had a field day once they heard about it. Rumors were flying left and right, some of them believable - most of them not.

There had been some reports that said I had been having an affair with a man from Paris, and was leaving to be with him. Of course when I didn't magically disappear to Paris that story faded away.

Then there was the one about Ron cheating on me. They said he'd been sleeping with Hannah Lincoln - which was ridiculous. He'd been sleeping with Lavender Brown -

Anyway, the reports said that they'd been seeing each other since before we left Hogwarts - which wasn't true either - in regards to Hannah _or_ Lavender.

Those too had died away when Ron's lawyers had threatened to sue.

Now everyone pretty much accepted it and found other things to report on - it had been six months already.

After the divorce Ron kept the house and most of what was in it - not that I cared. I wanted him to have it. That house was full of bad memories that I'd rather forget.

Instead I'd moved in to a flat in Muggle London in an attempt to distance myself from the Wizarding World.

Of course I still worked at the Ministry and I still visited often enough, but when I came home I was glad that it was to a normal place where magic didn't touch and nobody had read about my failed marriage.

Living alone after almost two years of living with someone - and roughly eight of living with other girls at Hogwarts - made it really strange to live in my own place.

I hated it at first. It was empty and quiet and I absolutely _hated_ it.

I hated that I missed him, even when he treated me as horribly as he did. I hated that he turned me into someone that I didn't even recognize.

_That_ had to have been the part I hated the most. The fact that I didn't know who I was or what I wanted or _anything._ I had immersed myself in being a wife, in being Mrs. Weasley, that I forgot to worry about who I was, _me._ Hermione Jean Granger.

It was as if I was a stranger to myself, and I didn't know how to go about trying to figure out who I was.

Ginny and Harry said that I just needed time, but it felt like more than that. I didn't know what I needed, but I knew time wasn't going to fix this - at least not _just_ time.

I needed something, some change that would help me figure myself out, and until I found it I was going to have to deal with this feeling.

But one person who seemed to know exactly who he was and exactly what he wanted was Malfoy. He was in the paper regularly for shagging this girl or that girl. He was known as London's Playboy, and the name definitely fit.

Regardless of whether I agreed with his incessant habit of having to bed a different girl every night, I respected the fact that even though the papers sometimes made him out to be a complete cad - which I have no doubt that he is - he still didn't change how he acted.

He did whatever the bloody hell he pleased.

* * *

**DPOV**

London's Playboy indeed.

I'd shagged my fair share of bints, but the paper really did over exaggerate my finesse - which I wasn't complaining about.

On the contrary, it was quite helpful in getting _other_ bints.

My mother, of course, couldn't stand my habits, and made a point to bring it up every time I visited her at Malfoy Manor.

She was always talking about how I needed to grow up and take over the fucking business.

I didn't want to. I was twenty one and attractive - why the hell would I want to run the business? My mother seemed to be doing a good job of it all by herself, and I doubted she needed my help.

Ever since my father got locked away in Azkaban she'd been...different. More take charge, less...mousy.

Which I suppose was a good thing, but it also meant she had no shame about sticking her nose into my personal life.

She kept pestering me about getting a job, paying attention to what was going on in the business - _something_ - but I had literally no interest in doing any of that just yet.

I was young and wanted to have fun, and I didn't think there was anything wrong with that.

I knew plenty of people who could stand to be a little more relaxed - my mother included.

Of course if I told her this she'd probably hex me, so I kept that to myself.

Pansy was almost as annoying as my mother when it came to my work ethic - or lack thereof really. She worked as a Healer at St. Mungos and was dating some bloke named Conner.

And every minute she wasn't saving lives or shagging Conner she was bugging me about 'growing up' or 'doing something with my life'.

Well I was quite content with what I was doing with my life, and the papers made that quite clear. They always showed pictures of me and some lucky bint of the night disappearing into my flat.

Blaise was an Auror, and as far as I knew he was still dating Lovegood - a rather unlikely pair in my opinion. The bint was loonier than anyone I'd ever met. The fact that he worked as an Auror, though, afforded me many great stories about the stupidity of one red-headed Weasel.

Though he'd been in the paper quite a bit a few months ago. Something about how he and Granger had divorced.

The paper spewed up a whole bunch of shit that seemed, even to me, implausible. Like foreign lovers and torrid affairs - it was all a little too...exciting for the likes of those two.

Not that I had a particular problem with Granger, but her ex husband continued to rub me the wrong way.

I hadn't actually seen Granger in at least a year. I mean sure she was in the paper - on rare occasion - but I'd never actually _seen_ her. I knew she worked at the Ministry of Magic - because that was literally the only reason she was ever in the bloody paper - and I knew that she didn't live in the Wizarding World.

I didn't exactly make it a point to know anything about her, though, so that could be why.

Blaise told me that Potter worked there too, and though he was definitely less of an idiot when it came to work, he still hung out with Weasley all the time - which led to him being roped into some pretty interesting situations.

Which Blaise, being the good friend that he was, told me about in great detail.

I didn't particularly care about the Golden Trio - sufficiently less _'trio'_ now that two of the three had a significant - _ahem_ - issue with the other - but even I knew that Granger could do better.

Regardless, I made it a point not to associate with most people, only because they tended to want one of two things - my money, or the attention they'd get from the paper - neither of which I had much patience for.

I kept to myself - with my personal affairs anyway - the bints that traipsed in and out of my flat didn't count as personal...more like...pleasure.

And that was all I was concerned with, pleasure and fun.

* * *

**HPOV**

"Why don't you just consider it?"

I couldn't even believe I was having this conversation, let alone in the middle of the day when I had five thousand other things to do.

"Mrs. Malfoy, I appreciate the thought, but I don't think that'd be a good idea." I hedged, trying to be polite about the situation.

"Oh it's a _fabulous_ idea! He needs to learn responsibility, and who better than you to teach him?"

"Um...anybody?"

"Nonsense," she said, pushing her white-blonde hair behind her ears, "You're the perfect person. Dedicated, focused, organized - you're the perfect worker, Kingsley said so himself. Please, Ms. Granger."

I sighed, running a hand through my hair, "What does Malfoy think about this?"

"You just leave that to me, Ms. Granger. He'll show up tomorrow, bright and early." she said, her light blue eyes watching me carefully.

"But what could I possibly teach him? I work in the Magical Creatures Department. That has next to nothing to do with business or with him learning how to run one."

She shook her head, "It's not about him learning to run the business, I'm sure he can figure that out with a little help from me. It's about him learning a good job ethic, learning responsibility, learning how to handle himself in a professional environment. That's what you can teach him, Ms. Granger. I'm sure of it."

I didn't particularly want to do this, because I saw a million and one ways that this could end absolutely _terribly,_ but Narcissa Malfoy was quite the intimidating woman, and I knew Kingsley would have my arse if I didn't do this.

I took a deep breath and said, "Okay, but only if he's really okay with it. I don't want him to be mad -"

"Nonsense. Leave that to me. He'll be the perfect gentleman...well...as perfect as he can ever be." she said with a small smile.

"Okay...well I guess I'll see him tomorrow then."

She smiled, "Thank you Ms. Granger. This will be an amazing experience for him."

She stood up and I followed her to the door. I needed to go and get paperwork from Justin and I was already ten minutes late.

"No problem Mrs. Malfoy. If anything changes just owl me."

She nodded and disappeared down the long hallway, while I made a run for Justin's office four doors down.

"Merlin, Hermione, what took you so long?" asked Justin, looking up from whatever it was he was reading.

I walked in and closed the door, leaning my head against it and closing my eyes, trying to take a few deep breaths before I answered him.

"Narcissa Malfoy was just in my office."

His eyes widened and he motioned for me to take a seat, which I did, rather ungracefully.

"What did she say? What did she _want_?"

I groaned, dropping my head onto his desk, "She wants Malfoy to come and be my assistant."

"_What_?" yelled Justin.

My head shot up and I glared at him, "Will you keep your voice down? I'm still banking on the fact that Narcissa can't convince him to come in."

Justin snorted and said, "Yeah right. What Narcissa Malfoy wants, Narcissa Malfoy gets. Besides I think she's right. He needs to do something. All I ever see him in the paper for is -"

"Yeah, yeah I know. _Everyone_ knows. But why did I have to be the one to help him? Why not you?" I complained, dropping my head back onto the desk.

"Because you're the best worker here, and she probably wanted him to get a good kick in the arse." he said with a smile.

A smile that did absolutely nothing for me.

I mean why in the _world_ had I agreed to this? I was completely insane.

I took a deep breath and decided to get to work. I was majorly behind.

"Do you have those papers I asked for?"

He nodded, spinning around in his chair to face his file cabinet.

While he looked for the papers I tried to focus on anything but how awkward tomorrow would be.

And it was only Tuesday.

Oh Merlin.

"Here you go."

I took the papers from him and said, "Thanks Justin."

He nodded and right before I left his office he said, "Be sure to keep me informed on how this Malfoy thing goes."

I glared at his smirking face and went back to my office, hopeful that Malfoy was too stubborn to let his mother talk him into this.

* * *

**DPOV**

"You did _what_?"

My mother had definitely lost her mind if she thought I was going to agree to this.

"I went down to the Ministry and spoke to Ms. Granger, who said she would be happy to have you as an assistant." she said, her voice as calm as ever.

I couldn't believe she had the nerve to go and get me a job, and working for _Granger_ no less.

"Are you insane? There's no bloody way I'm doing that."

She smirked, and it was times like these where I thought that I might have gotten that little signature from her, because she did it extremely well.

"I think you'll find it quite beneficial for you to take this job."

"Why?" I snapped, glaring at her across the table.

She really knew how to ruin a nice dinner.

"Because you'll learn a lot. You'll be ready to take over the business in a few years."

I snorted, "Nice try, but no."

She sighed, "Well that's a shame. I was kind of hoping you'd go along with it so I didn't have to resort to this."

"Resort to what?"

"If you don't do this, I'm cutting you off."

"_What_?" I asked, eyes wide.

She couldn't be serious.

"You heard me, dear. I love you, but you need to get your priorities straight. What kind of mother would I be if I didn't keep your best interests at heart?"

I didn't even have words. I was _beyond_ pissed at her, and there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it.

If she cut me off I'd be screwed.

I mean really, how bad could it be to work with..._for_, Granger?

"When did you tell her I would start?"

"Tomorrow." she said, her smile almost splitting her face.

"Are you kidding me? That gives me no time to mentally prepare myself for the verbal beating she's bound to give me."

If it was one thing I remembered about Granger, it was her witty comebacks and sarcastic remarks.

I'd heard plenty of them during our Hogwarts days.

My mother simply shook her head and said, "She's quite different from how I remember her, though I didn't know her well to begin with."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean she's quieter now. Not the type of person you'd assume to 'verbally beat' anybody, let alone you." she said, getting up from the table.

"When you're ready to leave, do make sure my wards are set up correctly - and I expect to hear good things from Ms. Granger after tomorrow." she said, standing up and leaving the dining room.

I groaned and ran a hand through my hair. It was possible that Granger was just quiet around my mother, because I found it _incredibly_ hard to believe that the feisty Gryffindor Princess wouldn't have something to say about me working for her - _assisting_ her.

I shoved the thoughts away and stood up, heading for the floo.

Tomorrow was going to be a long day.

* * *

**Alright, let me know what you think, if I should continue, or even if you have any suggestions or requests for a story or one-shot you'd like to read. **

**Just let me know (: **


	2. Chapter 2

**DPOV**

When I got to the fourth floor of the Ministry of Magic I was decidedly not in the best mood.

I hadn't been up this early since...well since Hogwarts.

Aside from that, it was rather annoying how everyone was staring at me, as if wondering why the hell I was there.

I ignored all of them, though, and followed my mother's directions to the office all the way at the end of the hall.

I knocked twice and then pushed the door open, and I was surprised by what I saw.

Granger's office looked rather...haphazard. On her desk towered books, files, loose papers, and other odds and ends.

The file cabinet behind the desk had two drawers open, and a stack of files piled on top.

There was a chair on the opposite side of the desk, a few lamps around the room - one was even sitting precariously on a stack of books on her desk.

I was a little worried that if I knocked something over the whole room might crumble.

I never would have taken Granger as one to be messy - then again I didn't know how busy they kept her here.

Before I could move away from the half shut door, it swung open, almost hitting me, and Granger walked in with a stack of files in her arms.

When she saw me her eyes widened and she dropped the files, scattering papers all over the floor.

"Way to go, Granger. You clearly still walk like you've got two left feet."

"Oh Merlin, I'm sorry." she stuttered, bending down to start picking up the papers. "I didn't hit you with the door, did I?"

I sighed, but bent down and helped her grab the papers before I said, "No."

She nodded, not looking at me, and continued grabbing the papers.

When she'd gotten the ones that were closest to her she stood up, tossing them onto the one free spot on her desk, before waiting awkwardly for me to hand her the papers.

When I did she mumbled a thank you and tossed them onto her desk as well.

"Granger, what the bloody hell is up with your office?" I asked, unable to keep the thought to myself.

Her eyes widened and she looked around her office, a slight blush tinting her cheeks.

"Um," she said, tucking a stray curl behind her ear, "I meant to charm this before you got here. I didn't think..."

"Didn't think what?"

"That you'd be here on time."

I smirked, "Ouch, Granger. Your words hurt me."

She rolled her eyes, the only hint of her old self I'd seen so far, and said, "Take a seat. I have to explain what you're going to be doing."

"Assisting you, right?" I asked, taking a seat.

She flicked her wand and the mess around us disappeared, flying into the filing cabinet.

"Yes, but I'm assuming you have no idea what I do."

"No, how would I? I could care less about, what is this, Magical Creatures?" I asked, studying her face.

She looked similar to what she'd looked like at Hogwarts. Her hair was less awful, but she still wore those unsightly robes that seemed three sizes too big.

She sighed and said, "We control and regulate magical creatures. We make sure that they're not exposing themselves and that they're not being hunted. We take care of any problems that might arise. There's a scale, one to five, that we use to rate the magical creatures. One is boring, five means that it's a known wizard killer or it's impossible to train or domesticate. Two through four fall somewhere between both of those. Cases that are ranked with a five are considered more important, so if those come up those will be the ones I need you to make sure you get to me first."

I stared at her, trying to remember everything she'd just said. This might not be the cakewalk I was expecting it to be.

"Are you following me so far?" she asked, a slight smile on her face when she noticed the slightly confused look I was giving her.

"Of course, Granger. I'm not bloody daft." I snapped.

She suppressed a chuckle and turned her chair around to face the file cabinet. She pulled out five files and then turned back around, spreading them out in front of me on the desk.

"I'm just going to show you examples of what each one of these would look like when you see them, okay?"

"I told you I understood you."

"And I think you're lying. So shut up and pay attention."

I opened my mouth to reply, but she started talking again.

"Okay, see this X here?"

I nodded.

"This means the creatures is a one - boring and harmless to humans. The two that we deal with are Flobberworms and Horklumps. These aren't something I usually have to deal with unless there's nothing else going on."

Okay, I understood that. I nodded and she closed the file, opening the next one.

"Okay, this has two X's, so that means that it's harmless and can be domesticated. This category is pretty vast. We've got about twenty five creatures that fall under XX, but a few would be Chizpurfles, Romaras, and Barn Owls."

"So they're a step above X's?"

She nodded, "Yeah, but just barely."

"Okay, keep going." I said, motioning to the other files.

"These are three X's, and they might cause a problem, but normal wizards should be able to handle these without an issue." she said, her eyes flitting over the file.

"So how many creatures fall into this category?"

"About thirty three. They're creatures like Hippogriffs and Red Caps."

I nodded and she closed that file, pulling the other one open.

"These are four X creatures, and they're mostly dangerous. They need specially equipped wizards with good knowledge of them. Some of them, though, are just endangered or hard to catch, so they can fall under XXXX too." she said, closing the file and tossing it to the other side of the desk.

"What creatures fall into that category?" I asked.

I couldn't believe that I was actually interested in this, but I guess it could be worse.

"Things like a phoenix, centaurs, unicorns, and sphinxes." she said, as if she'd said this a hundred times already - then again she might have.

"So the last category is five X's."

"Yes, and these are the known wizard killers, like I said before, and they're impossible to domesticate."

I looked at the file she had chosen, and it was a Dragon.

"I thought you could train them."

She nodded, "Yeah, that's the somewhat confusing part. Creatures like Dragons and Basilisks can be trained by Dragonologists and Parselmouths."

I ran a hand through my hair and said, "So if it's a five X then that's a priority?"

"Exactly. Anything above three comes to me, and if there's nothing going on then you can bring twos and ones." she said, standing up.

"Come on, I'm going to show you the records room. This is where you'll go to get files and information that I might need for a case."

I stood up and followed her, but when we passed by a slightly open door we heard someone call her name.

She sighed and said, "Wait here."

She disappeared into someone's office so I leaned against the wall trying to remember what she'd told me so far. I refused to look like a bloody dumbarse in front of Hermione fucking Granger.

"Well how's it going?" asked a male voice.

I heard Granger groan before she said, "It's fine, Justin. We haven't tried to hex each other...yet."

"And he hasn't called you..."

"No, he hasn't." she answered quickly.

I couldn't help but flinch. I might be a git, but I did regret calling her a Mudblood all those times.

Hexing her though...I wasn't exactly above that, and clearly neither was she.

"Well good...if anything happens, let me know. Okay? And not just with Malfoy, but with Ron too."

She was quiet for a moment before she said, "I'll keep you posted on Malfoy."

All of a sudden the door opened and she stepped out.

"Sorry about that." she said, continuing down the hallway.

I was curious about what was going on with the Weasel, but not curious enough to ask.

Not that it was my bloody business in the first place.

She showed me the records room, explained how everything worked, and when we got back to her office she explained how I'd answer the phone and what to do in almost every bloody situation imaginable.

"Granger, I think I've got it."

She nodded and sat down, pulling out a file that looked about ready to burst, and started flipping through the pages.

"Malfoy, I need you to go down to the records room and pull anything you find on Romanian Longhorns."

I nodded and headed out. Maybe working for Granger wouldn't be _too_ awful.

_Ha._ It could have been worse. My mother could've made me work in the Auror Department.

The thought of working for either Potter or Weasley made me sick.

So yeah...Granger wasn't so bad.

It was a little strange though, because she wasn't the usual...sarcastic person I'd known back at Hogwarts.

She had a few comebacks, but not nearly as many as I would've expected from her.

But whatever suited her was fine with me. If she wasn't snapping sarcastic remarks at me then maybe this time would go by faster and we'd actually manage to get along.

_Ha._ Yeah right. Granger and I getting along...something was bound to happen, and if it wasn't her smart mouth, it'd be mine.

* * *

**HPOV**

Draco wasn't _horrible._

He wasn't exactly pleasant, what with his little remarks and that arrogance he walked around with like a second skin, but he wasn't as horrible as he'd been in school.

Which was something.

I guess.

"Do you do anything interesting at work, Granger?"

I looked up from the file I'd been reading and saw him staring at me from his chair.

"It's work, it's not always interesting."

"It doesn't seem like it's ever interesting, Granger."

"Well then it's a good thing you'll be running a business and not working in the Ministry." I snapped, looking back down at the file.

He snorted, "I'm not running the business for a while."

I sighed, "Are you going to let me get any work done? Because I don't exactly feel the need to discuss your life."

He glared at me, "You should be thanking me for talking to you in the first place."

"_Thanking you_?" I asked, slamming the file closed, "Why in the _world_ would I thank you for anything?"

He smirked, "Because I'm Draco Malfoy."

I rolled my eyes and said, "Just because other witches are stupid enough to think you have charm, Malfoy, doesn't mean I am."

He snorted, "You wouldn't know, because I'm not trying to be charming, Granger."

"Because you're not." I said, looking back at the file.

All of a sudden he snatched it out of my hands and said, "It makes you look stupid to comment on things that you know nothing about."

"Trust me, I've been around you long enough to know that you're an insufferable git. Now give that back." I said, motioning to the file.

"Then how would you explain -"

"Malfoy, I could think of a hundred things I would rather do than sit here and discuss your sex life."

"I would think you'd like to live vicariously through me, since it doesn't seem like you've been fucking anybody." he said with a haughty smirk.

"Malfoy, watch your language!" I snapped, "We're at work."

He just laughed and said, "You need to relax, Granger."

Before I could say anything the phone rang, and he answered it.

"Magical Creatures Department, Ms. Granger's office, this is her assistant speaking, how can I help you?"

I couldn't deny the fact that when he wanted to he could sound professional, but that didn't change the fact that I wanted to hex him into next week.

"Hold please." he pressed a button on the phone and said, "It's your Weasel."

My eyes widened and I immediately said, "He's not my anything. Tell him I'm not here."

He looked at me questioningly, but did what I asked.

"Ms. Granger's not in her office right now, but I'll let her know that you called."

He paused, listening to whatever it was that Ron was saying, and then said, "Well that seems like something you would discuss with Ms. Granger. Not that I'd recommend it."

Before waiting for him to reply Malfoy hung up, seeming a bit tense.

"Do you still talk to him?"

I sighed and said, "Sometimes."

"Well you should stop." he said, glancing at the clock.

I opened my mouth to ask what Ron had said, but the clock struck five and Malfoy stood up.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Granger."

With that he was gone, and I was left confused about more than one thing.

How was the rest of this working relationship going to go, because if Draco and I kept arguing nothing good could come of it.

What had Ron called about, and what was I going to do about it?

And why had Malfoy told me to stop talking to him? I mean it wasn't as if he'd ever shown any interest in my life before, so why now?

I shook my head, grabbing my purse and heading for the elevators.

I would ask him about it tomorrow.

Now I was going to go home and call my dad. It had been too long since we'd last talked.

* * *

**Alright, there goes chapter two. Leave me reviews and tell me what you think.**

**I decided to give Hermione a parent in this one (which is a first for me lol) because I wanted to see how that would change the dynamic. So I decided to let her dad live, and we'll see how their relationship is in the next chapter.**


	3. Chapter 3

**First I'd like to apologize, because this would have been posted earlier, but I couldn't get to my "manage stories" tab due to a Type 1 Error on FanFiction, which apparently a lot of people were experiencing too, so I couldn't update this story earlier and had to _hunt _for a way to get thi****s chapter po****sted**.  


**Okay, so we've got a little of Narcissa, Pansy, Conner, Blaise, Luna, Theo (who will be a teensy weensy bit different from his usual self...), and - ugh - Ronald.**

**Just FYI, there is some violence - just so everyone is aware - in this story, because of Ron, as I'm sure most of you already expected.**

**You've been warned - oh, and because I didn't want this chapter to be 5000 years long, there's going to be a cliffie...sorry (:**

**Enjoy**

* * *

**HPOV**

I hadn't seen my father in two years - basically as long as my relationship with Ron was.

I suppose that was yet another reason for me to hate Ron, he'd kept me from my father. He'd kept me from most people, actually.

But since my mom wasn't around anymore, my dad was the only family I had left, and it was really important for me to stay in touch with him now.

I had called him last week after work and he'd agreed to meet me for dinner today after work.

He lived in Paris, and as far as I knew he stayed alone. Not that I blamed him. When my mom had been killed he'd been a wreck. We both were. He felt guilty that he hadn't been able to do anything to save her, and I felt guilty that they'd been involved in the War at all.

He seemed better though, and every time I'd talked to him he'd seemed like he was happy, so I was excited to see him.

Now all I had to do was make it through another day with Malfoy.

We hadn't hexed each other at all last week, though we'd come close once last Friday when he made a comment about my hair - but other than that we'd stuck to our casual insults and sly remarks.

He was actually a pretty good worker, and even though he had a comment to make about almost _everything,_ he still did his job.

It seemed to me that Narcissa didn't have anything to worry about with him, because when he wanted to do something he could, and he did it well.

Malfoy had just gone to get a file from the records room and pick up a few documents from Justin, so I was in my office alone when the phone rang.

"Magical Creatures Department, Hermione Granger speaking, how can I help you?"

"Well I was wondering when I'd catch you at the office."

I froze at the sound of his voice, unsure of whether I should hang up or see what he wanted.

"How can I help you, Ronald?"

"I wanted to talk."

"Why? Lavender all shagged out?" I snapped, the words out of my mouth before I could register them.

"Shut your fucking mouth, Hermione. I called to be nice. I figured maybe you'd learned your lesson and were ready to come home, but I see I'll still have to do something about that smart mouth of yours." he snapped.

I closed my eyes, trying to fight down the feeling of nausea, and said, "That's not my home anymore, and I'm never coming back."

He laughed, the sound devoid of any real humor and said, "Trust me, _Mione,_ you'll be coming back. Whether I have to show up at that pretty little flat of yours in Muggle London or you come on your own. So what do you say we go to dinner tonight and you can make it up to me?"

Before I could say anything the phone had disappeared.

I looked up and saw Malfoy, his expression tense as he said, "Keep calling here, Weasley, and I promise you you'll regret it."

He hung up the phone and turned to me, "Are you okay?"

I wanted to nod. To say yes, I'm fine, like I always did. But for some reason the words wouldn't come. For some reason I couldn't do anything except shake my head.

"For fuck's sake, Granger, you seriously need to do something about him." he said, leaning against the side of my desk next to my chair.

"What would you suggest I do, Malfoy?"

"Report him."

"To who? He's an Auror - and a trusted one at that. Who are they really going to believe?"

He sighed and said, "You can't keep letting him do that. What did he say to you?"

"How did you even know it was him?"

He sighed, "You have the same expression every time he calls, Granger. Now what did he say?"

"Why do you care?" I asked, grabbing the files I had stacked on my desk and heading for the door.

He groaned and grabbed my elbow, the first time he'd actually touched me, and said, "Because he's a git, and nobody deserves to be treated like that. Not even you." he added with a sarcastic smirk, and I couldn't help but chuckle.

"Thanks for the concern, Malfoy, but it's fine, really."

He let go of my elbow, but walked to the records room with me.

"If I give you something, will you promise to humor me?" he asked, a strange expression on his face.

"Depends." I said, walking back into my office.

He lifted a silver chain from around his neck and said, "Wear this, and if something happens I can help you."

I studied the chain and noticed there was a serpent with emeralds for eyes hanging from it.

"I'm not wearing something so Slytherin."

"Granger," he said, clearly annoyed with me, "If that idiot does try to come to your flat -"

"How do you know that's what he -"

"Granger," he snapped, "Just wear the bloody necklace. I'm trying to do something _nice,_ don't ruin it."

"But _why_ are you doing something nice?"

"I have my reasons, Granger."

"Fine," I snapped, sliding the chain over my head and tucking it into my robes, "I'll wear the stupid necklace." And then quieter, "Thank you."

I didn't know why Malfoy took an interest in my personal life, and I didn't know what this necklace was going to do to help, but I appreciated the thought, especially coming from him.

"You're welcome, difficult bint." he said with a smirk.

I stuck my tongue out at him and asked, "Is it hot in here to you? They said something about limiting magical use around the Ministry and now it feels like it's burning up."

He chuckled and said, "Well I'd hate to see what you think about tomorrow. It's supposed to be even warmer."

I sighed, "Well it's almost five, you can leave now if you want."

He raised an eyebrow, "It's four thirty."

I shrugged, "Oh well, I've got somewhere to be tonight, and I'd rather just leave now."

He smirked, "Why Ms. Granger, I do believe you're depriving me of thirty minutes of learning."

I rolled my eyes and said, "Then stay thirty minutes longer on Monday."

He chuckled and nodded, walking over to the door, but I shook my head.

"We'll use the floo."

He chuckled and said, "Granger, are you ditching work?"

"Shh, I'm simply excusing myself a few minutes early. Now come on, I don't have all day."

* * *

**DPOV**

I wanted to beat that fucking weasel's arse.

He was no better than my own bastard of a father, and if he tried anything I'd make sure he'd regret if for the rest of his miserable life.

It wasn't even _about_ Granger, not really anyway. I mean she didn't deserve to be treated like that, but it was more the fact that it reminded me of how my father acted towards my mother for all those years. It literally made me sick to see a woman being treated like that by some arrogant prick.

I wasn't the best guy when it came to girls, considering I shagged my fair share, but I'd never laid a hand on one - something that my father hadn't felt the same about.

I shook my head and decided that I wanted to go out to a club tonight - but apparently my mother and Pansy had a different idea.

When I walked into my flat they were both sitting on the couch drinking wine and talking - and they had the nerve to act like I wasn't even there.

I cleared my throat and hung my robes up on the hook before grabbing a glass and filling it with Fire Whiskey.

"Draco, dear, aren't you early?"

"Granger left early so she let me go too." I said, eyeing the two women currently sitting on my couch.

"How's that been working out, by the way?" asked Pansy.

"Better than I thought it would."

"Miss Granger told me that you're an exceptional worker." said my mother.

My eyes widened, "Really?"

"You seem surprised." she said with a smirk.

I _was_ surprised. As snarky and sarcastic as I was with Granger, I was surprised to say the least that she'd been giving my mother positive reviews.

"Why are you two here?" I asked instead.

"We thought that you'd like to go out to dinner." said my mother, looking to Pansy.

I raised an eyebrow and said, "No offense mother, but -"

"Not with me, with your friends, Draco." she said with a sigh, shaking her head, "I've got some things to handle with the business."

"Blaise and Theo said that they miss hanging out with you, and Conner's coming too." said Pansy, a hopeful look on her face.

"Where did you want to go?"

"It's this restaurant in Paris, it just reopened a few days ago."

I sighed, "What's the name?"

"_Belle_,"

"Sure, fine, now could you two get out so that I can get ready?" I asked, exasperated.

All I had wanted was to go out to a club, bring home some bint - but no, I was going to dinner in Paris.

I suppose it could be worse.

My mother kissed my cheek and Pansy gave me a hug before they apparated away - after I'd sworn on my _life_ that I'd show up at the restaurant.

I sighed and walked into the bathroom to shower and change clothes, and by the time I was done it was half past six.

With a sigh I grabbed my wand and apparated to _Belle._

**~OoOoOoOoOoOoO~**

"So it's really not horrible working for Granger?" asked Blaise, earning himself an elbow to the ribs from Luna.

"Of course it wouldn't be, Hermione's a great person." she said, defending her friend.

"Merlin, woman, you've got quite an elbow there." said Blaise, frowning as he rubbed at his chest.

I rolled my eyes and said, "She's alright."

"Different though, right?" asked Luna, her milky blue eyes meeting mine.

I nodded slightly and then changed the subject, "What's with you, Theo, you've been awfully quiet tonight."

Theo huffed and said, "My arsehole of a soon to be _ex_ boyfriend is ignoring my phone calls again."

Pansy rolled her eyes and said, "Jonathan's on call you idiot. He's probably too busy to _pee,_ let alone answer a bloody phone call."

Jonathan was a Healer like Pansy. She'd been the one to introduce the two, and they'd been pretty much inseparable ever since - but they fought often, over the dumbest things - like this.

"I'm his boyfriend!" pouted Theo, "He should know that I'm a priority, and if he's going to be on call he should _inform_ me so that I'm not worried -"

"You're not worried," interrupted Blaise, "You think he's ignoring you and -"

"But what if he wasn't? He could be dying somewhere -"

"Oh shut up, drama queen. I just told you he's on call at St. Mungo's. He'll be done in a few hours and I'm sure he'll call you back then - no doubt terrified of your wrath after seeing how many missed calls he has." said Pansy, returning to snogging Conner.

Theo groaned and said, "All these fucking couples."

"I'm technically the only one not in a relationship, Theo." I pointed out, taking a sip of my drink.

He rolled his eyes, "That's your own bloody fault. All these poor girls fall victim to -"

"Not this again." I said, leaning back in my chair.

Luna chuckled and said, "You have to admit, Draco, you do get around quite a bit. If you wanted a girlfriend -"

"I never said I wanted one, Lovegood."

"And one day you will, but your little pecker won't work anymore because -"

I interrupted Theo and said, "It is _hardly_ little and I _highly_ doubt that it would stop working just because -"

"Just because you like to shag anything that moves?"

We all turned our attention to a smirking Granger, but I forgot about her snarky comment as soon as I saw what she was wearing.

She had on a red pencil skirt that hugged her curves - _curves I didn't even know she fucking had_ - and a black button down shirt, the top two buttons undone to show off her ample cleavage - _cleavage that I didn't even know she fucking had_ - and black heels that seemed to make her legs look like they stretched on for miles.

So _this_ is what she'd had to do today, a _date._

I realized that everyone was chuckling at Granger's oh-so-clever little remark, and I rolled my eyes, "Very funny, Granger."

She shrugged, "I just couldn't resist."

Luna stood up and hugged her, "Wow, you look great. I didn't know you'd be coming here."

"Last minute change of plans." she said simply, brushing it off.

"Well I'll let you guys get back to your meal." she said with a smile.

Everyone said their goodbyes and I watched as she weaved her way through the restaurant and took a seat across from a man who looked nearly three times her age.

Before I could voice this, though, Theo was talking.

"Did anyone know Granger looked like _that_?"

Blaise and Conner chuckled and shook their heads, but Luna rolled her eyes.

"She's always been pretty, you idiots. You've just been too blind - or _gay_," she said, looking at Theo, "To notice."

Pansy nodded, "I've never really talked to her, but even _I_ knew that she was a knock out."

Theo looked to me and said, "You've been working with her for two weeks, did _you_ know she looked like that?"

I simply shook my head, my eyes wandering back over to the table she was at.

Why the hell was she there with some old guy?

"Who the fuck is she on a date with?" I asked, unable to contain the question.

Everyone turned to look and Blaise chuckled, "Maybe she likes older guys -_ ow, Luna, what the hell?_"

She had elbowed him again, and turned back to look at me, an annoyed expression on her face, "That's her _dad_."

_Oh_.

"Why are they in Paris?" asked Conner, "I thought they were from London?"

"They are. He lived there before his wife died." said Luna, a sad expression on her face.

Conner's eyes widened and he nodded slowly, "So Hermione's mom..."

Luna shook her head and said, "I know you weren't here, but during the War her mom was killed. We don't talk about it, so I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't bring it up."

Conner was from America, and had moved here after the War had been over, so he only heard stories of what had happened.

Granger's story definitely had to be one of the most fucked up - from losing her mom to being tortured in my house - she had definitely had a hard time.

Conner simply nodded and Theo said, "It doesn't look like whatever they're talking about is going too well."

We all looked over and noticed that Granger was glaring at her father, and he was gesturing with his hands a lot.

She shook her head and said something else, to which her father stood up - slamming his chair back - and left.

We all averted our gaze as he flew past us, but looked back to Granger once he was gone.

She didn't seem too distraught. In fact she flagged down the waiter and a few minutes later he came back with a bottle of champagne and a piece of what looked like tiramisu.

"I'm going to go see if she's okay." said Luna, kissing Blaise on the cheek before walking over to her.

I couldn't deny the fact that I was rather curious, but so was everyone else at the table.

"What do you think happened?" asked Pansy, studying the two girls across the restaurant.

Theo shrugged, "Whatever it was sure did piss off daddy."

Maybe Lovegood would share when she came back.

* * *

**HPOV**

"He has a _what_?"

I nodded, taking another sip of my champagne, "A girlfriend. A girlfriend who he's been seeing for the past _year and a half_ and who he's known for the past two and a half. Do you know what that means, Luna?"

She looked confused for a moment, but then her eyes widened, "That he started talking to her six months after the War."

"Six months after his wife died." I said, disgusted by even having to say it.

The fact that he hadn't told me before now was a whole other issue - then again half of me wished he hadn't brought it up at all.

"What did he say?" she asked, looking longingly at my dessert.

I chuckled and handed her a fork, pushing the plate between us, "He said that he wanted me to meet her. He thought it was the right time since I got rid of that prick, Ron. Said her name was Lucinda."

"I take it she's French?"

I shook my head, "Italian. They met at some bistro in Italy when he was traveling after the War."

"Well what did you say?"

I snorted, "You mean at the end? I told him that he must have just forgotten all about mom - forgot about her a long time ago it seemed. I mean_ six months_, Luna. Six months to get over someone you've spent your whole life with. How is that possible?"

"Who knows? I can't imagine what he must have felt like to lose his wife, maybe he was just trying to -"

"I appreciate you coming over here, Luna, I really do, but I think I'm just going to head home. It's been a long night." I said softly.

She sighed, but nodded standing up and walking with me until we got to her table. I hugged her and waved goodbye to the rest of the people at the table, before I headed outside to apparate home.

**~OoOoOoOoO~**

I had no idea how to feel about what my dad had told me.

On one hand I was happy for him, of course I was, but I was also hurt. He hadn't told me about this woman - though part of that was my fault for letting Ron keep me away from him, but that didn't make me any less angry.

It wasn't okay for him to just get over my mom in six months, I mean what kind of person did that?

So it wasn't even just Ron, because he could have told me he'd met somebody before Ron and I had even gotten married.

I shook my head and kicked my heels off, stripping out of my clothes on the way to the bathroom.

I turned on the shower and while I waited for the water to warm up, I stood in front of the mirror, looking at Malfoy's silver chain that hung low around my neck.

I wanted to take it off, but something about having it on made me feel just a little safer, even if I wasn't sure that it would work.

I stepped into the shower, enjoying the feel of the warm water on my shoulders for as long as I possibly could.

With a sigh I got out of the shower, wrapping a towel around myself and heading into my room.

I liked my flat. It had two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen with an attached dining room, and a living room. It was perfect for me, and I'd been able to decorate it however I wanted - which I hadn't been able to do when Ron and I had been married.

The walls were light colors, yellows, blues, greens - and I had paintings hanging on the walls. The furniture was mismatched and there were quilts my mom had made strewn across the couch and my bed - and I wouldn't have it any other way.

The house I'd lived in with Ron was so...unlived in. Everything was new and shiny and expensive and _boring._ It wasn't home - it didn't feel like home.

_This,_ though, this felt like home.

I changed into a pair of shorts and a tank top and went into the kitchen, pouring myself a glass of white wine in hopes of easing my nerves.

I sat down on the couch across from the fireplace, enjoying it's warmth, while I mindlessly flipped through the channels.

A few minutes later there was a knock on my door, and I stood up, looking through the peep-hole in the door.

And had to force myself not to panic.

It was Ron, with a bottle of wine in one hand.

He knocked on the door again, and I jumped back, knocking over the lamp on the end table.

"Oh come on now, Mione. I heard you were out at dinner, even though I told you we were going to dinner tonight, but here I am anyway, trying to work it out."

I didn't have to see him to know the condescending smirk he always wore when he talked to me was plastered on his face.

"Go away, Ron. I'm tired."

He banged on the door again, rattling it, and I cursed myself for not having set up my wards - where the hell was my wand?

"Now, Hermione, is that any way to treat someone who's come all this way to see you? Open the door and let's talk."

I didn't respond, instead searching the living room for my wand.

He banged on the door again and said, "I don't think you want me to have to open the door for you, baby, but I will."

I felt nauseous hearing him call me baby, but I had to find my wand. I left the living room and headed back into my bedroom, when I heard the sound of something exploding.

I heard him slam the wine bottle down on the counter before he started walking back down the hall towards my room.

I shut the door, locking it, though I knew that wouldn't stop him. He had his wand, and I still didn't know where I'd left mine.

"See, I just wanted to talk, but it's apparent that you're not quite ready for that. I'm going to have to teach you a lesson first."

Then the door flew open, and I screamed, scrambling over the bed, snatching my purse off the floor, and running into the bathroom.

Having now effectively trapped myself, I had no idea what I was going to do.

I dug through my purse and found my wand, though my hand was shaking so badly I doubted I'd be able to aim correctly anyway.

He slammed his fist against the door of the bathroom and I screamed again, dropping my wand onto the tile floor.

I picked it up, tossing my purse onto the floor and facing the door.

All of a sudden all the noise stopped and I moved closer to the door, pressing my ear against it, but I couldn't hear anything.

I took a deep breath and pushed open the door, pointing my wand around my bedroom, but it was empty.

I glanced out into the hallway and saw that the wine bottle was still on the counter, but I couldn't see Ron anywhere.

I took a deep breath and stepped out into the hallway, walking towards the living room, trying to gain some control over my breathing.

I was fine. Everything was -

My train of thought was cut off when Ron yanked my hair, pushing me back against the wall, and said, "I don't like chasing you, baby."

"Let me go." I said, trying to shove him off me.

Instead his grip on my hair tightened and I screamed again, tears springing to my eyes.

"No, actually what's going to happen is we're going to sit down and -"

Before he could finish his train of thought a very dishevelled looking Malfoy came through my floo looking incredibly pissed off.

* * *

**Alright, there you have it. I'll try to update soon, but...you know.**

**Review (:**


	4. Chapter 4

**My updating schedule is ridiculous...oh well, at least you'll know what happened when Draco showed up...  
**

**Enjoy. **

* * *

**HPOV**

"Get your fucking hands off her, Weasley."

Ron snorted, "Really? You have the _Ferret_ coming to your rescue now? You really are pathetic."

He shoved me onto the ground by my hair, causing my wand to slide across the hardwood floor, before I felt one solid kick to my side, effectively knocking the air out of me.

I heard a crash, but I couldn't see what was happening, because that would require moving, and the sudden sharp pain that was radiating through my ribcage wasn't about to let me do that.

So instead I opted on listening.

"Since when did Hermione become _your_ fucking business, Ferret?" asked Ron, his voice slightly strained.

"When you decided to put your hands on her."

I forced myself into a sitting position, gasping at the new surge of white hot pain that lanced through my right side.

Something was definitely broken.

"Did you call him here?" he asked, glaring daggers at me, but as soon as he moved towards me Malfoy froze him.

"Are you okay?" asked Malfoy, his eyes immediately going to where I was holding my side.

A muscle in his jaw twitched, but before he could say anything Ron lunged forward, knocking both of them onto the ground.

I forced myself to crawl over to where my wand was, pushed myself into a standing position, and cast a jinx on Ron, causing him to flip upside down and dangle in the air.

"You stupid _bitch_!" yelled Ron, flailing his arms around.

I dropped my wand and leaned back against the wall, the pain in my ribs was _intense_ and it took everything in me not to just curl up into a ball - though that probably wouldn't ease the pain.

I mean _breathing _hurt - which was a pretty big problem.

"Now when I let you down, you're going to get your sorry arse out of here." snapped Malfoy, his expression deadly, and it took me straight back to the War.

Ron didn't say anything, but Malfoy lifted the hex, causing him to fall to the ground with a thud. He stood up, glaring at me, and said, "Your little Ferret won't always be around. Remember that."

With a _pop_ he was gone, and that left me and Malfoy standing in my living room.

I had my eyes closed, trying to figure out what the hell I was going to do, when I felt Malfoy step in front of me.

"You think it's broken?"

I opened my eyes and studied his appearance. His shirt was unbuttoned, his hair was a ruffled mess, and I was suddenly terrified of what I might have interrupted.

I mean he could have been in the process of -

"Oh Merlin, Malfoy, what were you doing before you came over here?"

"What, why?" he asked, eyebrow raised.

"I mean you...you..." I gestured towards him, which was a _horrible_ idea.

I winced, closing my eyes against the pain, and heard Malfoy sigh.

"Come on, you need to lay down so I can fix that." he said, taking my elbow and steering me back towards my bedroom.

I winced, shifting onto the bed as carefully as I could, while Malfoy took a seat next to me on the bed.

"And as far as what I was doing before," he said with a smirk, "It was nothing of great importance."

Before I could respond he leaned forward, his hands moving the material of my tanktop up until I grabbed his hand and glared at him, ignoring - or trying to ignore - the fiery pain that shot through my side at the movement.

"Granger, if you want me to heal you, that would require that you let me _see_ what needs to be healed." he said, a smirk on his face.

The thought of Malfoy seeing me in my bra did little for my mood, but I couldn't very well deal with this pain, so I let go of his hand and focused on the ceiling.

His hands were gentle as he slid my shirt up and performed a few tests with his wand. Then I felt his hand on my ribs, and heat started radiating from it, and soon after that the pain eased to something I could manage.

I took a deep breath and sat up - with Malfoy's help - and looked around my room.

I couldn't believe what had just happened - moreover, I couldn't believe that Malfoy had actually showed up and helped me...just like he'd said he would.

"You can't stay here, Granger."

I turned and looked at him - he had moved to a standing position near the bed.

"It's two o'clock in the morning, where the hell am I supposed to go?" I shook my head, "No, I'll be fine here. I doubt he's coming back today."

"You have no idea what could've happened if I hadn't -"

"I know _exactly_ what would have happened." I snapped, pushing myself off the bed and walking out into the living room.

I heard him sigh before he said, "Well you _shouldn't_ know. He can't just -"

"He can, he did, he does, and he will again." I said, picking up the lamp that I'd knocked over earlier, and slid my wand into my back pocket.

"The hell he will." snapped Malfoy.

I turned to look at him and he was studying me closely.

"What the hell happened to you? You used to be -"

"Different. I know. I hear that a lot, but guess what? Things change - _pebople_ change." I said, walking back into my bedroom.

"Fine, Granger, act however you want, but I'm not letting you stay here tonight."

I glared at him, "Like I said, I don't have anywhere to -"

"You'll stay with me."

My eyes threatened to pop out of my head, and I couldn't even formulate words, so I just shook my head.

"He could have killed you. There's_ no fucking way in hell_ that I'm letting you stay here." he said, crossing his arms and glaring at me.

"Why do you care, Malfoy?"

"I have my reasons."

I wondered what those reasons were, exactly, because that was the second time he's said that, but instead of asking I followed him over to the floo.

"How long will I have the joy of staying with you, Malfoy?" I asked, watching as he picked up a handful of floo powder.

He rolled his eyes, "Just shut up and grab my arm."

* * *

**DPOV**

If there were ever a sight I never expected to see, this was it.

Hermione Fucking Granger in my flat.

"This is the guest room." I said pushing open the door to reveal a dark four poster bed with black silk sheets and matching nightstand and dresser.

I looked at Granger and her eyes were moving over the furniture before she asked, "Who stays here?"

"Nobody. It's a guest room."

"So you haven't had...um..._guests_ here?"

And had a blush not rose to her cheeks I wouldn't have caught what she meant - but it did, and I knew _exactly_ what she was talking about.

I chuckled, "No, Granger, those bints never slept in here."

She visibly relaxed and nodded, "Okay,"

"Do you want a drink?"

She seemed to contemplate it for a second before she gave in and said, "Yeah, sure." and followed me back into the kitchen.

"Anything in particular?" I asked, opening up the liquor cabinet.

Her eyes widened at the options, but she quickly concealed her surprise and said, "I don't care, surprise me."

I nodded, pulling out a bottle Shiraz, and filling two glasses with the deep red liquid.

"I didn't know you drank wine." she said, picking up the glass I slid across the counter.

I raised an eyebrow, "What does that mean?"

"It means I picture you more as a Fire Whiskey kind of guy."

I nodded slowly, "Yeah, I am, but I figured it's been a while since I've had a good red wine."

"I haven't ever had this - not that that's a big shocker."

"Why? You and Weasley had money."

"He preferred beer, vodka...nothing I was all that interested in." she said with a shrug.

I picked up my glass and walked into the living room, sitting down on the couch, listening to the gentle padding of her feet against the hardwood floor, and then she was sitting on the opposite side of the couch, facing me.

"How are your ribs?"

She ran a hand through her hair, and I found myself noticing that her wasn't that unmanageable anymore.

And that her lips were the perfect pink.

And that she looked awfully at home sitting on my couch in those little shorts -

I shook my head and focused on what she was staying.

"They're okay, sore...but thank you."

I simply shrugged, taking a sip from my glass.

"What's your reason for sticking up for me when it comes to Ron?" she asked, and I nearly choked on my drink.

"Excuse me?"

"You said you had your reasons." she said, her toffee eyes bright with curiosity.

I shook my head, and instead of answering her I decided to ask her a question instead.

"Tell me something about you that I wouldn't guess."

She looked at me for a moment, as if contemplating why I wanted to know, and then said, "I read the endings of books before I buy them."

"Doesn't that defeat the purpose?"

She sighed, "You're going to think I'm stupid."

I bit back the sarcastic remark that stood on the tip of my tongue and instead said, "Try me."

She ran a hand through her hair, her eyes scanning my living room, before she sighed and said, "Because I like to know that they have a happy ending."

"Why?"

"I like knowing that everything ends up okay, because then it doesn't matter what happens throughout the book - because you know that in the end everyone got what they wanted."

"But _why,_ Granger?"

"Because," she said, her toffee eyes holding mine, without shying away, for the first time all night, "Life is sad enough. I don't need to read about it too."

She took another sip of her drink while I contemplated what she said.

In a way she had a point. Life _was_ pretty fucked up - and from what I'd seen, which wasn't a lot, her life hadn't exactly been a cakewalk - so I couldn't blame her for wanting to know that at least _someone_ would get a happy ending.

"So basically you skip ahead because you can't do that in real life."

It wasn't a question, but she answered me anyway.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that." she said softly.

I had just found something out about Granger that I wouldn't have guessed before - she wasn't happy.

I mean sure, I pretty much knew the shit with Weasley bothered her - and the fact that he kept fucking with her didn't exactly help - but I'd assumed that was just one part of her life.

But sitting across from her in my flat made it really obvious that she wasn't happy in _general._

"What do you want out of life, Granger?" I asked suddenly.

Her eyes widened and she looked at me, blinking a few times as if she were confused.

"That's a good question." she said finally, setting her empty glass on the table.

"But you don't know?"

Instead of answering me she asked, "What do you want out of life, Malfoy?"

I opened my mouth, ready to respond, when I realized that I had no fucking idea what I wanted out of life.

She smirked, "Exactly. So face it, we're both lost, just in different ways."

Before I could say anything she stood up and said, "Goodnight, Malfoy. And thank you for letting me stay here."

With that she disappeared into the guest bedroom, the door shutting with a soft click.

Something told me that we'd crossed some kind of line tonight - and I couldn't even blame it on alcohol, because I'd showed up at her place sober.

The thought of what had happened at her flat pissed me off all over again and I just wanted to find that stupid Weasel and _bash his face in._

Why the hell I'd told her she was staying with me for a while was baffling to me.

I mean sure, it was fucked up what the Weasel was doing, but that didn't make Granger my responsibility.

I didn't understand my sudden need to protect her from the big bad red head - because it didn't make any sense.

A few weeks ago I hadn't even been _thinking_ about Granger, and now she was living in my bloody flat.

I shook my head, it was too late for a headache, I just needed to get some rest.

Hopefully things would be better in the morning.

* * *

**Reviews are awesome (:**


	5. Chapter 5

**Are we actually getting somewhere? Hmm...**

* * *

**HPOV**

I woke up to the sound of people talking outside, and it took me a second to remember where I was - and that I didn't have any other clothes here.

Great.

I shoved the covers from my legs and stood up, walking over to the door and pressing my ear against it.

"...guest room? Nobody's ever been in there before." whined a voice that I couldn't place.

"None of your business. Now is there a reason you're here?" asked Malfoy, his tone clearly annoyed - though whoever he was talking to didn't seem to notice, or care.

"Draco if you don't tell me -!"

"Would you keep your voice down?" he snapped, "You're going to wake her -"

There was silence for a moment before I heard the other person squeal and say, "So it _is_ a girl! Tell me, why's this one still here? It's definitely way past your usual morning-after grace period -"

"Theo, if you don't shut the hell up..."

I moved away from the door and shook my head, why was Theo even here?

I glanced at the clock, and it read nine-fifteen.

I ran a hand through my hair and tried to figure out what I would say if someone saw me here. I mean I didn't know how often Malfoy had friends - or _women_ - coming over, so I'd need to make myself scarce, because that was something I was _not_ going to deal with.

I walked over to the dresser, out of mere curiosity, but when I pulled it open I found my clothes.

_What the hell?_

I pulled open the second drawer and found even more of my clothes, and when I looked over to the nightstand there was the picture of my mom that I'd kept by my bed back at my flat.

When had he found the time to do this?

I shook my head, making a mental note to ask him later, and grabbed a pair of shorts and a blue t-shirt and headed into the attached bathroom.

When I came out I was dressed, my hair slightly damp because I was too lazy to use a blowdryer and using magic didn't make it look how I wanted it to.

I went out, listening to make sure nobody was there, and then walked into the kitchen.

Malfoy was nowhere to be found, which didn't bother me in the slightest. I trailed my hands over the cool metallic appliances before opening his fridge.

My eyes almost popped out of my head at the amount of food that was in here - and all of it looked fresh. From the strawberries, to the salad, to the meats - I had no idea what to make.

I pulled open a few cabinets before I found what I was looking for - pancake mix.

I pulled out what I needed, and then while I was waiting for the pancakes to brown, I pulled the bowl of strawberries out of the fridge, and bit into one.

_Wow_.

I closed my eyes and leaned back against the counter, taking another bite - this was definitely a food-gasm. I'd never tasted strawberries this fresh before, which made me all the more curious about where he'd gotten them.

I set the bowl down and flipped the pancakes before turning and examining the living room - or what I could see of it from here anyway.

The two couches were black leather, as was the recliner. The bookshelf and the corner of the TV stand that I could see were a dark mahogany color, and the curtains that covered the two windows were emerald green - _shocker._

I slid the pancakes onto a plate before taking two and pouring syrup over them, adding a few strawberries on top.

I covered the other two pancakes and set them aside, in case Malfoy would want some later - it was the least I could do.

I took the plate and sat down at the kitchen table, digging in.

A few minutes later the floo lit up, and before I could do anything - like _hide_ - Theo was stepping into the living room.

When his eyes met mine his smirk was almost instantaneous.

"I fucking _knew_ he couldn't resist you! Especially after how he looked at you last night, Merlin how did I not _guess_ it was you!" he squealed.

"Um," I said, standing up and putting my plate in the sink, "It's not what it looks like."

"So you didn't sleep with Draco last night? Yeah right, honey the way he was -"

"Theo," I said, rubbing my temples, "We didn't sleep together. I was in the guest room and he was in his room."

He raised a skeptical eyebrow and asked, "So then why _are_ you here?"

"That's none of your goddamn business."

We both turned to see a rather irritated Malfoy walk into the living room.

"What are you doing here?"

"Well since you wouldn't tell me, and you know that I need to know these things, I decided to take matters into my own hands. And would you imagine my surprise when I found out that it was _Granger_ sleeping here."

"Sleeping here." I said, "Not sleeping with him."

He rolled his eyes, "Whatever you say, honey."

I opened my mouth, but Malfoy was talking again, "Is there some reason you're still here?"

Theo glared at him but said, "No, actually there isn't. I found out what I wanted to know."

"Um, Theo?" I asked as he walked over to the floo, "Could you...could you _not_ tell anybody that you saw me here?"

He smirked but nodded, "My lips are sealed...for now anyway."

And with that he was gone.

"We can't do -"

"Did you cook?"

I sighed and walked back into the kitchen, "Yeah, I hope you don't mind. I left you some pancakes...I didn't know if you ate breakfast or not."

His eyes widened slightly and he said, "Uh...thanks."

I nodded and sat down on one of the bar stools at the counter, picking up a strawberry from the bowl I'd left on the counter and said, "How are we going to explain why I'm staying here, Malfoy? Because that didn't exactly go too well."

He rolled his eyes, "Theo's just...Theo. People don't usually come over."

Somehow I didn't really believe that, but I suppose this was as good a time as any to bring up a few things.

"Well since I'm going to be here for a little while, I think we should have a few...rules."

He raised an eyebrow, a smirk tugging on the corner of his mouth as he asked, "Rules?"

I nodded, "I don't want to be in your way when you're..._entertaining_ company, so just give me a heads up."

* * *

**DPOV**

Was she really talking about me bringing home other girls? Especially when she was sitting there making eating a fucking strawberry look sexy as -

I shook my head and said, "If such a _situation_ should arise, I'll be sure to let you know, but I wouldn't bet on it."

I tried to focus on something other than how her lips were tinted red from the strawberry juice, instead asking, "Any other rules, Granger?"

"What do we tell people when they ask why I'm here?"

"The truth."

Her eyes widened and she immediately shook her head, "No."

"Why not?" I asked, "It'd be easiest."

"For _you_ maybe. Do you realize how humiliating this is for me? I can't even handle my ex boyfriend without getting my arse handed to me." she snapped, crossing her arms over her chest.

I ran a hand through my hair and said, "It's not your fault that -"

"Do you realize how sick and tired I am of hearing people say that to me? It _is_ my fault, Malfoy. It's my fault because _I_ stuck around, because_ I_ was the one who let him treat me like shit."

"Regardless, he didn't and _doesn't_ have a right to treat you like that. He -"

"Of course he does!" she yelled, slamming her fist against the counter, "I let him! I'm supposed to be the brightest witch of our age - well how bright do I look right now, Malfoy? I'm staying with someone who hated me my _entire childhood_ because I don't have the brains or the _backbone_ to tell my ex to go fuck himself."

I shook my head. She was just so _wrong_ about that. My mother had said the same thing, and it was literally like I was reliving that experience all over again.

"You're wrong. No matter what you did or _didn't_ do doesn't give him the right to put his hands on you - ever."

She looked away from me, blinking her eyes rapidly and said, " Then why do I feel like he does?"

As if she just realized what she'd said, she shook her head, "Nevermind. I'm sorry."

"You don't have to -"

She stood up and said, "The pancakes are in the fridge, and thank you for getting my things."

With that she was gone, disappeared back into the guest room, leaving me feeling...weird, to say the least.

The fact that Granger thought it was her fault, or that she deserved what Ron did to her, pissed me off, because it meant that that fucker still had a hold over her.

Pricks like Weasley drove me _mental,_ and I wanted nothing more than to be able to teach him and my father a lesson.

I mean what gave them the right to -

I took a deep breath and leaned back against the counter.

What the hell was I going to do about her?

If she didn't want people to know the real reason she was staying here, we were going to have to come up with something that seemed realistic - which was another problem, because nothing to do with us seemed realistic. We'd never hung out before two weeks ago, and now she was practically living with me.

Not exactly something that's easy to explain.

Then again as long as that Weasel stayed the fuck away from her, I would figure something out.

I ran a hand through my hair, trying to clear my head.

Granger was bringing up memories that I hadn't thought of in years, and I didn't like it. I didn't want to have to think about that shit again, but knowing what she was going through - and that it was _so fucking similar_ to what my mom had gone through - made it impossible for me not to help her.

_Fuck me._

* * *

**HPOV**

I was sitting on Malfoy's couch, the flat silent aside from the random clocks - who knew Malfoy would have muggle things? - and contemplated where he'd gone.

Well I could pretty much guess where he'd gone, judging by what he'd left wearing.

Black jeans, grey shirt, black jacket - he looked good - which was almost as hard to believe as it was to actually think about.

Then again, it wasn't a shock to me that Malfoy was handsome - he'd always been gifted with good looks - but his shitty personality made that an easy fact to overlook.

Now that he _wasn't_ always being such a giant git, though, it was really easy to notice just how handsome he'd gotten over the years.

It didn't hurt that he knew he was attractive - what with his platinum blonde hair and intense grey eyes, and the fact that I was pretty sure he was quite fit underneath those clo -

_What the hell was I doing?_

I took a deep breath and shifted so I was staring up at the ceiling, one leg thrown over the top of the couch, the other bent so my foot was flat on the cushion.

If he came home with a girl, I didn't know what I was going to do. It'd be quite awkward if they came in all over each other...

And even more awkward if I was sitting here on the couch.

The thought of all the bints he must have slept with brought a rather strange - _and unwanted_ - thought to my head.

How good _was_ Malfoy in bed? I mean he had to have been good, but it was hard to believe that anyone was good enough to keep shagging girls - especially when they knew exactly what he was after.

It was ridiculous.

I tilted my head to look at the time and noticed it was well past eleven - which meant that my previous assumption of his whereabouts was most likely true.

Luckily he'd agreed to letting me know ahead of time, so if he did bring someone home, hopefully I would have time to go to my room - and cast a silencing charm.

I reached over onto the coffee table and grabbed the bowl of strawberries - that had somehow refilled itself since this morning - and bit into one just as the front door swung open.

I tilted my head to see who was coming through the door - determined not to move unless I absolutely had to - and saw that it was just Malfoy.

_Ha._ He must not have had any luck at the club.

"Hey," he said, a strange look on his face as he took in my position on his couch.

I didn't move, just asked, "Hey, have fun?"

He shrugged, tossed his jacket down on the chair and sat on the coffee table. He picked up a strawberry before saying, "As much fun as one could expect to have while visiting their mother."

I raised an eyebrow and reached for another strawberry.

"How is she?" I asked, choosing to avoid the fact that I thought he'd been out trying to find a girl.

"Fine, I guess." he said, waving a dismissive hand.

I simply nodded, I hadn't talked to my dad since yesterday - and he hadn't tried to contact me either - which was fine. I needed some time.

"Can I ask you something, Granger?"

I looked at him skeptically, but nodded, "Sure."

"How many people know about you and Weasley?"

I sighed and picked up another strawberry, biting into it while I contemplated my answer.

It honestly depended on what he meant.

Everyone knew we were divorced.

My friends knew that our relationship hadn't been a good one.

My _close_ friends knew that Ron was the reason we hadn't worked out.

But nobody knew that he liked to use me as his personal punching bag - well no one except -

"Just you." I said, staring up at the ceiling.

He hadn't said something in quite some time so I turned my head to look at him, and found that he was already watching me.

"What?"

"Nothing," he said, shaking his head.

I watched as he stood up and then heard him in the kitchen rummaging through something before he was back.

"Wine?"

I sat up, taking the glass from him and said, "Thank you."

I took a sip, and was surprised that I yet again liked it.

"What is this?" I asked, glancing at his spot on the opposite side of the couch.

He smirked, "It's good, right?"

I nodded and he said, "Prosecco."

We were silent long enough for me to down the drink I had, plus two others. He didn't say anything, just refilled my glass with a small smirk.

"It's an interesting color." I said, staring at its pale pink hue.

He nodded, "The actual name is Prosecco Riondo Rose Veneto."

Ah. That made sense.

Though I was a little distracted by how fluently he spoke the name, which made me wonder -

"What languages do you speak?"

He smirked and said, "English and French."

"Really?"

He nodded, "Went with the etiquette lessons."

I snorted, "Weren't they supposed to teach you manners?"

"Of course they taught me manners, Granger."

"Well that's a surprise considering you've never shown _me_ that you had any." I said, hiccuping.

Maybe the wine was getting to my head.

He snorted, a very un-Malfoy like thing to do, and said, "Well we both know things were complicated back then...but I'm sorry."

I choked on the sip of wine I'd just taken, but managed to cough out a strangled, "What?"

He sighed and sat forward, patting my back until I stopped coughing and said, "I'm sorry, about how...about how things were before." he cleared his throat and smirked, "But I'd like to think I'm making up for it."

That's when I realized his hand was still on my back and I felt an embarrassing blush rise to my cheeks.

Instead of replying I leaned forward and filled my glass again, causing his hand to slide off my back.

* * *

**DPOV**

When I walked in and saw Granger lying on my couch like that - I didn't even want to dwell on the thoughts I'd had.

But now she was getting drunk on my couch - I'd lost track of how many glasses she'd had at this point - and her smart mouth was back, and that fucking blush -

_What the hell was wrong with me?_

This was _Granger_ for fucks sake. I wasn't supposed to be thinking about her like that, like I wanted to -

_No, no, no, no._

"Is this expensive?"

I looked at her, but she was looking at the half empty drink in her hand.

"Uh, no. Not really anyway."

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, leaning back.

I chuckled, "Don't worry about it."

She stuck her bottom lip out in the most fucking adorable pout I'd seen in my goddamn life - I'd think about how fucked up that thought was later - and said, "You just think you're _so cool_ with your money and your -"

"Granger," I said, forcing the humor out of my voice, "You're drunk. Don't you think you should go to bed?"

She glared at me, which was about as effective as having a toy poodle as a guard dog, and said, "I'm a grown woman, Malfoy. I think I know how much alcohol I can handle."

Grown woman indeed. So far the only things I'd seen her in were shorts - not that I was really complaining.

I chuckled and said, "Whatever you say."

I went to stand up, but she grabbed my arm - almost sliding off the couch - and said, "Don't leave."

I raised an eyebrow and said, "Now I _know_ you're drunk. Come on, let's get you in bed."

All of a sudden she started laughing hysterically and said, "Is that how you do it?"

"What?"

"Get women drunk and then you're all 'let's get you in bed, baby'." she broke out into another fit of giggles and all I could do was stare at her.

"I've always been curious, Malfoy," she said, flopping back onto the couch, one leg thrown over the top just like when I'd come in, and asked, "How _do_ you manage to sleep with so many women?"

Never in my entire fucking life had I pictured Granger asking me that question - I'd never really pictured anyone asking me that question, actually.

"Excuse me?"

She giggled a bit and said, "Well it's no secret that you get around, I'm just wondering how you do it."

I ran a hand through my hair, "You're dru -"

"So you've said. Answer the question." she said, her eyes sparkling with something I hadn't seen there before.

"My charming personality and sexual finesse."

As soon as the words left my mouth a fierce blush rose to Granger's cheeks and I couldn't hold back the smirk.

"You don't have a charming personality, and I _highly_ doubt you have any...sexual finesse." she said, reaching for her wine glass.

Before I could register what I was doing I had bent over the couch, one hand by her leg on top of the couch and the other beside her head, my lips inches from hers, "Trust me, Granger, I have plenty of both."

She rolled her eyes, but the blush stayed on her cheeks as she said, "I think you're full of shit."

I chuckled, "Maybe I'll prove it to you, but not now. Now you're drunk and you need to go to bed."

I straightened out again, grabbing the bottle - and her glass - from the coffee table, and walked into the kitchen to put them up.

When I walked back into the living room Granger wasn't there, and I could only assume she was in bed - though the hangover she was sure to have from all that wine would give me a good laugh in the morning.

I flipped off all the lights and walked into my room, running a hand through my hair.

What the hell had I been thinking, saying that shit to Granger?

I groaned and flopped down onto my bed, trying to rid myself of the rather inappropriate images of her that were running through my head.

I blamed it on her and the damn wine...and her lips...and her fucking arse in those -

_Fucking stop it, Draco._

I wasn't going to think about this anymore. She was just Granger, for fucks sake. Bookworm extraordinaire. Annoying know-it-all.

Exactly...exactly...

Right?

* * *

**I'm working on FWB, I swear. In fact I might even update tonight...or tomorrow...because of the shit weather they've cancelled school three days in a row now and I'm about to go crazy. Since we've got all this ice and snow it's dangerous to go anywhere, so I've been stuck at home (you'd think I'd get more writing done).**

**Anywho, hope you like, leave a review.**


	6. Chapter 6

**I have no idea what's up with me and French speaking Draco, it's just...I don't even know. Don't judge me.**

**And I was trying to have them go slow, but it's so hard! Ugh, it's obvious that I'd much rather they just slept together _now, _but that wouldn't really go with the plot...**

* * *

**HPOV**

My head was _pounding,_ but I pretty much expected that with the amount of wine I drank last night -

Merin, last night.

I couldn't believe I'd asked him how he slept with so many women.

I groaned, moving to sit up, and instantly regretted the decision - my head felt like it was about to _explode._

I took a deep breath and managed to get the blankets off my legs - which was a painstaking process - and slid my feet onto the floor.

It took another five minutes for me to get the nausea under control so that I could stand up, and another three for me to make it to the bathroom.

I turned on the faucet and splashed some cold water on my face, hoping to somehow make myself feel better.

It didn't work.

I took a deep breath and tried to calm the uneasiness in my stomach to little avail. I needed water. Water was a good idea.

I shut off the faucet and shuffled out of the bathroom, managed to make it out the door and halfway down the hallway, before I had to stop and lean against the wall.

Wine hangovers were the worst. It was like someone was tap dancing on my brain...someone with gigantic feet...who was wearing steel toed combat boots.

Yeah...that sounded about right.

I heard his chuckle before I saw him, and I instantly wished I'd just drank the water from the sink and gone back to bed.

"Morning, Sunshine." he said, his voice unnecessarily loud.

I groaned, covering my ears with my hands and said, "Malfoy, please don't."

I didn't notice him move - what with my eyes shut and my ears covered - so I jumped when I felt his hand on my elbow.

"Come on, I have a potion for that."

He pulled me off the wall - but thanks to the fact that the rest of the room didn't move as fast - I stumbled and fell into his chest.

His arm went around my waist quicker than I could even register falling, and he said, "_Merlin_, Granger, you shouldn't drink. Ever."

I groaned, "I know."

Though I tended to say the same thing every time I woke up with a hangover.

"Come on." he said, his arm around my waist as he led me into the living room. When I sat down on the couch he disappeared and came back a few minutes later, a glass of orange juice in one hand and the potion in the other.

"What is it?"

"Hangover potion."

I snorted, "Of course you'd have this."

"Well it seems like you need it, so it's a good thing I do." he said with a smirk.

I sighed, my head pounding too loudly for me to even attempt lying, so I just took the vial and tipped it back.

"Oh Merlin that's _disgusting_." I said, trying not to gag.

He chuckled and sat down next to me, handing over the glass of orange juice that I accepted gratefully.

Anything to get that disgusting taste out of my mouth.

"Thank you." I said softly, already feeling the jackhammering inside my head lessening.

"You're welcome."

I ran a hand through my hair and took a deep breath. It was already almost noon. I needed to take a shower and call my dad.

I wasn't any less pissed about the situation, but we needed to talk.

"I'm going to take a shower." I said standing up, thankful when nothing started spinning.

He simply nodded and watched as I walked out of the living room, but before I was out of earshot I said, "And I'm sorry about last night."

Before he could say anything I slipped into my room, dying to take a shower and brush my teeth - Merlin I wasn't ever going to drink again.

_Ha._ Yeah right. How many times had I said that one to myself?

I stepped under the warm flow of water and washed my hair - realizing for the first time that it was the same shampoo Malfoy seemed to use - and the same body wash.

How I hadn't noticed that the first time, I had no idea.

Once I'd gotten dressed I walked into the kitchen and found a note from Malfoy.

_My mother will be coming over later. You're welcome to stay if you choose._

_-M_

His mother was coming over?

Yeah, I definitely didn't want to be around for that. I mean honestly, how was I supposed to explain this?

I shook my head and looked through the fridge.

Hopefully later meant _way later_, because I was starving.

I pulled out a bowl of blackberries and leaned against the counter, contemplating what I wanted to cook or if I should go out and get something to eat since his mom was coming over.

Before I could really make a decision either way the front door swung open and in walked Malfoy and Narcissa.

_Oh shit._

She didn't look surprised to see me though.

"Hello, Ms. Granger."

"Uh..." I quickly shook my head and cleared my throat, "Hello Mrs. Malfoy."

Malfoy's eyes flicked to the bowl and then to my mouth and he smirked.

"Mother, why don't you have a seat?"

Narcissa nodded and walked into the living room before Malfoy stepped into the kitchen and said, "Your lips are blue."

I groaned and grabbed a napkin, wiping off the berry juice before turning to glare at him, "What did you tell her?"

He shrugged and moved to walk out of the kitchen but I grabbed his hand, "Malfoy, _what did you tell her_?"

He sighed and leaned one hip against the counter, "I told her the truth."

I wanted to kill him, but I couldn't very well do that with his mother in the next room, so I leaned back against the counter and closed my eyes.

Deep breaths.

It was fine. I mean who was she going to tell anyway?

"Just hear me out." he said, moving to stand in front of me.

I shoved him back and said, "No, I _told_ you that I didn't want to tell anyone, and you went ahead and did it anyway."

He sighed and stepped forward again, grabbing my hands before I could shove him back a second time, and said, "I had a good reason."

"I doubt that. Now let me go."

"She understands what you're -"

"No she doesn't! No one does. Merlin, Malfoy," I snapped, yanking my hands out of his, "I don't need you or your mother to feel sorry for me."

"I'm just trying to help yo -"

"I don't need your help."

He ran a hand through his hair and said, "Well I think you do."

I snorted, "Because you know me so well."

"No, but I know my mother."

"What does she have to do with this?"

His voice was soft when he said, "She went through the same thing with my father."

_Oh my_...but -

"I'm sorry, really, but that has nothing to do with me." I said, pushing away from the counter to walk out of the kitchen.

Before I made it past him he grabbed my hand, pulled me, and pinned me against the counter, one hand on either side of me.

"Yeah, it does. Because if anybody fucking knows what you're going through, it's my mother." he said, his intense silver eyes holding mine.

"I don't need anyone to 'know what I'm going through'. What I _need_ is for you to mind your own business." I said, trying to shove him away from me, but he didn't budge.

"You're wrong. I _know_ you're wrong."

"I'm not your mother."

"You might as well be." he snapped, "Stubborn, headstrong, smart - but stupid when it comes to the simplest things. Like knowing that what he's doing isn't your fucking fault."

I closed my eyes, trying to control my emotions. I'd never had to say any of this, and here he was, forcing me into it.

I didn't want to deal with this. I didn't want to talk about it - especially not with these two people.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Because I know what shit like this does to the people that care about you, so if you don't want to do this for yourself, fine. But do it for Weaslette or Lovegood or Potter - do it for somebody that cares about you."

I took a shaky breath and shook my head, "I don't want to."

"Why?"

"Because I don't want people to feel sorry for me."

"I don't -"

"Bullshit." I interrupted, "It's written all over your face. And I get it, your mom went through something similar, but I'm not your mom."

"No, you're not me, but I know how you feel."

We both turned to see Narcissa standing in the archway of the kitchen watching us.

I wanted to disappear. I had never talked to anyone about Ron, and I wasn't about to start with people who were practically strangers.

"No offense, Mrs. Malfoy, but I don't want to talk about this."

She smiled, "I didn't want to talk about it either, and it took a long time for me to be able to forgive Lucius for what -"

"I'm sorry that I don't see the similarities between your locked up husband, who has no chance of getting out and hurting you, and my ex husband who has every intention of hurting me again and has every possibility to do so."

Without waiting for her response I grabbed my bag off the couch and slammed out the door.

Who the hell did Malfoy think he was, trying to get his mother to talk to me, like she knew me, like she knew what I was going through?

_Ha._ What a joke.

* * *

**DPOV**

"Well I tried, what the hell else do you expect me to do?"

My mother sighed and said, "I don't _expect_ you to do anything, but I know that you're going to."

"What do you mean?" I asked, running a hand through my hair.

"You don't care about many things, Draco, I know that. But things like this...things like this, you care about."

"I don't know what you're -"

"Oh don't start that with me. I gave birth to you, and I'd like to think I know you better than anyone. You called me because you thought I could help her, and _you_ want to help her because she reminds you of me. You care, Draco, and it's not a bad thing." she said, patting my hand.

"What the hell am I supposed to do? We don't even _like_ eachot -"

"Oh hush. Of course you like each other. You wouldn't have invited her to stay with you if you didn't like her, and she wouldn't have stayed if she didn't like you."

I shook my head, "That doesn't mean we like each other."

She rolled her eyes and gave me a look that you'd give a small child who wasn't grasping a simple concept, "You have friends, right?"

"Of course I do."

"So then you know that friends do things to help each other out - and that's exactly what you're doing." she said, a smirk on her face.

I groaned and ran a hand through my hair before saying, "It's just...some of the things she said were exactly like what you used to say -" I broke off and shook my head, "I'm going to see if I can find her."

Before I could move to the door I felt her hand on my arm, "You're so worried about being like your father -"

"I'm not worrie -"

"But you're nothing like him, Draco. I just wish you could see that."

I shook my head, and instead of responding I just grabbed my wand and apparated to Diagon Alley.

When I finally found Granger she was in the very back of the last bookstore, and she definitely didn't look like she wanted to be found.

_Too fucking bad._

"Granger."

She looked over at me and instantly frowned, "What do you want?"

"For you to come back to the flat." I said, sitting down in the chair next to hers.

"What, so you and your mom can tell me how none of this is my fault and blah, blah, bl -"

"If you don't want to talk to my mother, then fine, but I think you should, because she's been where you are."

She dropped her head onto her hands and was quiet for a while before she said, "Maybe."

"Maybe what?"

"Maybe I'll talk to her."

I don't know why, but for some reason that made me feel better - like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders.

"Okay," I said, running a hand through my hair, "Will you come back now?"

**~OoOoOoOoO~**

"Can I ask you something?"

I looked at her over the rim of my glass and raised an eyebrow, "What?"

"Do you ever think about what it'll be like for you to fall in love?"

I snorted, "There's no such thing, Granger."

She frowned, "Of course there is. You love your mom don't you?"

"Yeah, but that's not the same thing."

"Why are you so against it?"

I just shook my head, taking a drink from my glass, ignoring her question.

"Is it because of your mom?"

"Why do you believe it exists? I mean after what Weasley did to you I'd think you'd have sworn off 'love' forever." I snapped.

She was quiet for a while, staring out the window before she said, "I don't want to feel like I can't move on because of what he did. I don't want him to still have control over me, even after all this time. I just...I just want to be okay again, and if I let him make me believe that love isn't real - just because _he's_ a giant git - that isn't fair to myself."

There were moments that Granger said things that really showed me a totally different side of her, a side that I never expected to see, and it was really fucking with my head.

I wasn't used to looking at Granger as a person with _feelings._ She was always just the human dictionary, know-it-all, Potter's sidekick - just someone who was _there._

I sighed and said, "Well if it's any consolation, I think you'll find it - if it exists."

She chuckled, "Why?"

I just shrugged and said, "Good things happen to good people, right?"

Her eyes widened and she took a sip of her champagne before looking back over at me with a smile, "I know what this is."

"Really?"

She nodded, "But I'll totally butcher the name."

I chuckled, "Try."

She sighed and attempted to say Sauvignon Blanc, but it came out something along the lines of 'sauve-ig-non blank' and I couldn't help but laugh. Granger was good at a lot of things, but French was not one of them.

"See! I told you I'd mess it up." she pouted, sticking her bottom lip out.

I chuckled and said, "It's called Sauvignon Blanc."

"Oh shut up. You and that damn French tongue."

"Most women like when I speak French to them." I said with a smirk, watching as a blush rose to her cheeks.

"I'm not most women."

"Trust me, Granger, I'm aware."

She looked at me incredulously and asked, "What's _that_ supposed to mean?"

I chuckled, "Exactly what I said."

"Oh shut up." she said, rolling her eyes, "Just because you speaking French doesn't make me want to drop my panties -"

"I never said anything about that." I said, smirking when I saw an even brighter blush cover her cheeks.

She opened and closed her mouth a few times and I laughed, "Stop doing that. You remind me of a fish."

At that her jaw dropped open and I rolled my eyes, tapping her chin so that her mouth closed.

She smacked my hand away and blushed again - and I will always blame the Sauvignon Blanc for what I did next -

I trailed my knuckles across her cheek and said, "You blush often."

Her eyes widened and she said, "You say things that embarrass me often."

I arched an eyebrow and said, "It's not my fault you find everything embarrassing."

"I do not find everything embarrassing!" she pouted.

"Oh? Que voulez vous ne trouverez pas embarrassant?" _What don't you find embarrassing?_

And again the blush was back.

"You don't even know what I said, so how is that embarrassing?"

She just shook her head, suddenly taking a great interest in the pillow on her lap.

"Unless you _do_ like when I speak French." I said, smirking at her obvious discomfort.

"I never said I didn't like it, I simply said I wasn't like most women." she said softly.

"Good, you had me beginning to think that I was starting to lose my touch." I said, smirking when she finally looked at me.

She rolled her eyes, "Yeah right. You shagged your last girl, when? Last week? I highly doubt you've lost your touch in less than a week."

I shrugged, not willing to admit or deny anything, "Being around you for too long would have any guy doubting themselves."

She raised an eyebrow, her toffee eyes amused, and said, "Not any guy, just the stuck up, French speaking, arrogant ones."

I rolled my eyes, "Shut up, Granger."

"Make me." she said, sticking her tongue out at me before standing up and heading into the kitchen.

Now, as I previously stated, I blame the alcohol.

I grabbed her arm and trapped her between the wall and my chest, "I don't think you want to go there."

She raised an eyebrow, that know-it-all look on her face as she said, "Oh, why's that?"

I leaned forward so that my lips were inches from hers and a blush instantly tinted her features, so I trailed my index finger over her cheek and said, "That's why. Face it, Granger, you're out of your depth with me."

"You're such a git." but she didn't say it with her usual annoyance, instead her voice was soft and her eyes were wide.

"So you've said."

She took a deep breath and said, "I should go to bed."

"Is that what you want?"

She opened and closed her mouth a few times before she said, "I don't know what I want...I thought we'd gone over that already."

I chuckled and said, "Yeah, we did. Apparently neither one of us knows what we want."

She nodded, her eyes flicking between my eyes and my mouth, and I smirked again. It was nice to know I affected her - especially since her and her lips had been on my mind ever since that goddamn strawberry incident.

"Maybe that's not so bad." she said quietly.

And in that moment I thought I was going to kiss her, I would've sworn on it, but for some fucking reason I couldn't do it.

Well actually, no, I knew why. Because of that fucking Weasel. Because she knew that I shagged girls all the time. Because I knew - even if she didn't - that she was better than some random shag with me.

_Fuck my fucking life._

I pushed away from the wall and said, "You're right, you should go to bed."

She rolled her eyes and walked past me muttering, "Whatever, Malfoy."

I leaned back against the opposite wall and ran a hand through my hair.

Since when did I give a fuck about a girls _morals_?

Then again, since when did I start looking at Granger like that?

Oh yeah, Friday night when I found out she actually had a fucking body - one that she'd been showing off for the past two fucking days.

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. I was fine. We were going back to work tomorrow - and thank fuck for that.

* * *

**Well there you have it - the 'almost kiss' that always precedes the 'kiss kiss'.**

**I don't even know what I'm saying...it's 5:30am...this is kinda rough with no editing, buuuut I wanted to feel accomplished...so here it is.**

Review? (:


	7. Chapter 7

**You have to understand where I'm coming from with this chapter. Draco basically deals with things by being with women, and Hermione wants to be able to move on, have someone look at her and see someone that's good enough, but she also doesn't want to let anybody close to her again on an emotional (and maybe even a little bit physical) level - that's why this chapter happened.**

**With that said, enjoy.**

* * *

**DPOV**

It was fucking hot.

Last week had been nothing compared to the heat that was in here now. Since the Ministry had restricted their magical use, that apparently conveyed that we were supposed to suffer through a week of this _ridiculous,_ _sweltering, inhumane_ heat until they figured out a way to balance things out again.

I glanced over at the desk and saw Granger fanning herself with a file, staring blankly down at the stack of papers in front of her.

Her cheeks were bright pink and her hair was pulled up into a high ponytail, in what I would assume was an attempt at cooling off, though I didn't think it was really doing much.

I groaned and shoved my robes off my shoulders - I wasn't about to follow the stupid dress code if it meant suffocating to death.

Granger looked over at me, but just as quickly turned away. She'd been doing that all day, and it was starting to get on my nerves.

So what I hadn't kissed her? It wasn't as if she actually _wanted_ me to.

She sighed and stood up, tossing the file she'd been fanning herself with on top of the filing cabinet and then shrugging her robe off too, tossing it over the back of her chair.

She turned and faced the file cabinet, searching for something, but the only thing I could focus on was what she was wearing.

I hadn't wondered what Granger wore under her robes, but now that I was looking at her I was glad I hadn't thought about it. If I'd known she'd be so goddamn...hot...

I shook my head, trying to ignore how amazing her arse looked in the black skirt she was wearing, and asked, "Do you need help with anything?"

"Yeah, you can go to the records room and find me a file on basilisks." she said, her back to me.

I rolled my eyes at her childishness, but did what she asked, dragging my arse all the way down to the records room, only to find absolutely _nothing_ over basilisks.

When I got back to her office, Granger was twirling her hair around her index finger, leaning back in her seat.

"I couldn't find anything."

"Oh darn, I meant to tell you before you got all the way down there," she said with a sugary sweet smile, "I had the file here the whole time."

I glared at her, because I knew that she'd done it on purpose, but what I didn't get was _why._ She hadn't done this the first week or the second week, but now all of a sudden she wanted to play these games?

"What's wrong with you?"

"Why would anything be wrong?" she asked, that same sugary sweetness in her tone.

"Because you're acting weird -"

"Oh _I'm_ acting weird? _You_ were the one who was acting weird last night, so don't even start with me, Malfoy."

I raised an eyebrow, confused by what she meant.

I mean obviously she was talking about me almost kissing her - and who knows what else - but I couldn't understand if she meant it was weird that I almost had, or that I didn't.

"Um...what?"

"You screw anybody and everybody -"

"I don't -" I tried to interrupt her, but she kept on talking.

"But you won't even _kiss_ me! What the bloody hell is so wrong with _me,_ Malfoy? I mean you slept with Lavender, of all people, and you don't even -"

"Is _that_ what this is about?" I asked, a smirk finding its way onto my face even though I was still confused about why something like that would bother her - though the more I thought about it, the reason became increasingly obvious.

"Of course that's what this is about!" she said crossing her arms in front of her chest. "I mean I get the fact that I'm not exactly on Pansy's level - but for Merlin's sake, Malfoy -"

"Granger, do you like me?"

She rolled her eyes and snorted, "No. I most certainly do not."

"Then why are you so pissed?"

She sighed and dropped her head onto her hands, her elbows on the desk, before she said, "Forget it, Malfoy. It doesn't matter."

_Ha._ Yeah right.

"Tell me."

"Drop it." she snapped, standing up and walking out of her office, headed to who-knows-where.

Why the hell would she care that I hadn't kissed her? There were a hundred reasons that it would have been a horrible idea, and -

_Holy shit._

I felt like a complete fucking idiot for not realizing it earlier.

_"You screw anybody and everybody but you won't even kiss me..."_

_"...slept with Lavender of all people..."_

_"...not exactly on Pansy's level..."_

It was the Weasel's fault. He'd cheated on her - she'd said as much - and it didn't help that since I was known for my...multitude of one night stands, that I didn't do the same with her.

_Well fuck me._

_**~OoOoOoOoOoO~**_

Granger had avoided me for the rest of the day, and when she couldn't avoid me she ignored me, which was almost as effective.

She had me stay later than her, something about reorganizing the filing cabinet - complete bullshit - so by the time I got back to my flat it was half past six.

I heard music playing from somewhere, and when I walked into the kitchen I saw Granger, a towel wrapped around her, stirring something before pouring it into a bowl.

Of course my brain was kind of stuck on the fact that she was in a _fucking towel in my kitchen_.

And fuck it all if her arse didn't look amazing...her smooth skin -

She turned around and nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw me, her shock quickly turning into a glare as she flicked her wand and the music quieted.

"Well I was sure it would've taken you longer than that."

I rolled my eyes, "Very mature, Granger. Any reason you're cooking in a towel?"

Her cheeks tinted a light pink and I smirked as she said, "Like I said, I thought it would take you longer."

She set her bowl down on the counter and moved for the hallway, but I blocked her path.

"Could you move?" she snapped.

"I could." I said simply.

She glared, "Will you move?"

"No."

She sighed and put her hands on her hips, no doubt ready to nag and complain, luckily I had other ideas entirely.

I just hoped she didn't hex my balls off.

"Did you want me to kiss you last night?"

She frowned, a little 'v' appearing between her brows, "What?"

"Did you want me to kiss you last night, Granger?"

"Why does this even matter? You obviously didn't want -"

"Just answer the question."

She glared at me, but said, "Yes. I _did_ want you to."

I chuckled at her childish use of the past tense and said, "Oh, so you don't anymore?"

"Nope." she said, her tone indignant, nose in the air.

I stepped forward, forcing her back against the counter without having touched her at all, "I think you're lying."

"Stop it, Malfoy. I don't want to do this again."

"Do what again?" I asked, leaning my hands on either side of her on the counter.

A blush rose to her cheeks and she said, "Whatever it is you're doing."

"I haven't done anything yet, Granger."

Her eyes widened and she asked, "Yet?"

"Well you seemed so upset with me earlier, that I figure the only way to make sure I don't have to spend unnecessary time doing pointless work is to make it up to you." I said, smirking when her cheeks turned almost scarlet.

"You're blushing, Granger. Was it something I said?"

"Stop it." she said, her voice soft.

"I would, but I don't think you want me to...I don't think _I_ want to."

The last part was out of my mouth before I realized it, but it was true nonetheless - and apparently she needed to hear it if she seriously thought that Weasley had a right to cheat on her.

"Why are you -"

Instead of letting her question me to death, I simply closed the space between us, pressing my lips to hers.

I felt her tense up and when I pulled back I had to force myself not to laugh, because I didn't think it was possible for someone to turn that particular shade of red.

"What are you _doing_?"

"I thought that was obvious, but if you don't want me to I can -"

Before I could finish she grabbed my tie, yanking me forward again and pressing her lips against mine - and holy fuck Granger could kiss.

I shoved everything else out of my head, because this was definitely the only thing I wanted to focus on - _she_ was the only thing I wanted to focus on.

I moved my hands from the counter to her waist, pulling her against me, and she slid her arms around my neck.

Her lips were impossibly soft, and she tasted like strawberries - which only served to remind me of how erotically she'd been eating them a few days ago.

She pulled away, but I moved down, kissing and biting her neck, and managed to hit a spot behind her ear that made her moan softly - and fuck if the sound didn't go straight to my dick.

I slid my hands up and down her sides and brought my lips back to hers.

I trailed my tongue along her bottom lip, and she opened her mouth, allowing me to stroke her tongue with mine.

Her hands slid into my hair and she tugged, eliciting a growl from me. I slid my hands to her waist, lifting her up onto the counter, and moved between her legs, before kissing her again.

I had no idea how far we would've gone, but all of a sudden my floo lit up, and we quickly broke apart. Granger slid from the counter and disappeared into her room, no doubt to put clothes on, while I tried to calm the throbbing between my legs, and the sudden surge of feelings that came out of nowhere.

I turned towards the floo and saw Pansy come through the fireplace, a smile on her face.

I raised an eyebrow and said, "You know, I do have a front door."

She just laughed, but then narrowed her eyes at me and asked, "Draco, what the hell happened to your hair? Don't you own a -"

Just then Granger walked into the living room and froze when she saw Pansy - not that Pansy looked any less surprised.

"Well...this is...unexpected."

Granger sighed and said, "It's not what you think."

Pansy looked back over at me, noticing that I was trying to fix my hair, and snorted, "Yeah, sure it's not."

"It's not." said Granger again, walking into the kitchen, "I don't have anywhere else to stay. Malfoy offered."

"I thought you owned a flat?"

"I do."

"And you aren't staying there because?" asked Pansy, putting her hand on her hip.

"It's complicated."

* * *

**HPOV**

"I've got time."

This was probably the last thing I wanted to deal with - Pansy Parkinson finding out I was staying with Malfoy - Merlin forbid she actually find out _why._

I shot Malfoy a look that I hope threatened _immediate death_ if he breathed so much as a _word_ about why I was here.

"Well we don't." said Malfoy, sending a small nod in my direction, "We were just about to go to dinner with my mother."

"Why?"

"It's about the job. She wants to know how things are going." he said smoothly, and if I hadn't known for a fact that he was lying, I would've believed him.

"Oh." said Pansy, looking between the two of us before her eyes settled on Malfoy again, "We need to talk later. Okay?"

Malfoy simply made a noncommittal noise and motioned for her to use the floo, but before she did she turned to me.

"I hope everything's okay with your dad."

Before I could formulate a response she was gone, and I was left standing in the living room with Malfoy.

I hadn't spoken to my dad since the incident at dinner, even though I'd meant to call him, but the fact that he hadn't tried to call me irritated me...and hurt a little more than I expected it to.

"Earth to Granger, are you okay?"

I looked over at him and nodded, quickly turning to walk back into the kitchen and grab my bowl of oatmeal - which, at this point, was cold and inedible.

I sighed, tossing it into the trash, and leaned back against the counter.

_What the hell had I been thinking?_

It had been my fault Malfoy and I had made out in his kitchen - on his counter no less!

I'd had this stupid idea about wanting him to kiss me, and I'd actually been upset yesterday when he hadn't.

I'd thrown a bloody temper tantrum like a child at work, and made him stay after to do some pointless filing work - all because he hadn't kissed me.

But Merlin, was it really my fault? I mean he shagged _everyone_ but he hadn't even kissed me. What the hell was so wrong with me that he couldn't -

Well no. Apparently there wasn't anything wrong with me, because he'd definitely kissed me a few minutes ago - _Merlin,_ had he kissed me.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

I looked up and noticed he'd moved into the kitchen as well, and was leaning against the island directly across from me, his silver eyes studying me intently.

I cleared my throat and nodded, "Yeah, I'm fine."

He tilted his head to the side slightly before asking, "When was the last time you talked to your dad?"

"Why's that matter?" I asked, pushing away from the counter, but before I could move past him he grabbed my wrist.

"Do you ever just answer a question without asking one yourself?"

I yanked my hand away from him and said, "The questions you ask tend to be none of your business."

He snorted, "Your face gives you away, Granger. Every time. It doesn't take a genius to come to certain conclusions."

"I suppose that's good for you, since you're definitely not a genius."

"Cute," he said, turning so he was facing me, "Now we can do one of three things."

I raised an eyebrow and said, "Excuse me?"

"One, you can tell me about your dad, two, you can tell me when you plan on talking to my mother, or -"

"You can't just -"

"Three, we can continue what we were doing before Pansy got here."

My eyes threatened to pop out of my head and I barely managed to stammer an almost incoherent, "What?"

"Should I show you what I mean?" he asked, a sinful smirk on his face that should have been illegal.

I opened and closed my mouth, but quickly remembered that he said it reminded him of a fish, and said, "No, I don't -"

"Because I think I should." he said, taking another step closer to me.

Just then my cellphone rang, and I jumped on the opportunity, grabbing it off the counter and answering it.

"Hello?"

"Hey, I was wondering when I'd get ahold of you." said Ginny.

I smiled and instantly relaxed, "Hey, Gin, how are you?"

She sighed dramatically and said, "I'm fine, just bored out of my _mind_ because my best friend doesn't hangout with me anymore."

I laughed and said, "I know, I'm sorry. Things have been..." I looked over at Malfoy, who had moved over to the other side of the kitchen, his eyes still on me, "Busy lately." I finished lamely.

"Why, what's up? Did something happen with your dad? Luna told me about what happened at the restaurant. Why didn't you call m -"

"No - well yes, but that's not why I've been busy."

"Oh, do you happen to have a _guy_ that you're not telling me about?"

I cursed Ginny for her loud voice - and myself for the blush that rose to my cheeks when I looked over at Malfoy and saw him smirking.

"Um, no, of course not. Don't be ridiculous." I said, walking out of the kitchen and into the living room.

I stood behind the couch, resting my elbows against the top when Ginny said, "Hermione Jean Granger I've known you for forever, and there is definitely something juicy you're not telling me."

I rolled my eyes and said, "There's nothing, Gin."

"Well fine, if you..."

Ginny kept talking, but I didn't hear a word, because Malfoy had come up behind me, his hands on my waist pulling me away from the couch and back into him.

He trailed his lips across my neck and I bit my lip in an attempt to stifle the gasp that threatened to slip out.

Merlin forbid Ginny hear _anything._

I tried elbowing him, but he avoided me easily, his lips never leaving my neck. Instead he bit down where my neck met my shoulder and this time I did moan.

"Mione, are you okay?" asked Ginny, her voice loud enough for Malfoy to hear.

He chuckled, and I tried to move away from him, but he slid his arm around my waist and held me against him.

"Yeah," I said, taking a deep breath, "I'm fine."

"You sound weird, are you sure?"

I groaned again as Malfoy slid his hands up my stomach and over my breasts, and said, "Yes, I'm fine."

"No you're not. I'm coming over."

"No!" I said, forcing myself to focus on what she was saying, "Really I'm - fine." my voice rose a few octaves on the last word and I tried to elbow Malfoy again.

He chuckled and whispered in my ear, "Feisty, Granger."

"Hermione Granger do you have a _man_ there?"

"Don't be ridiculous, Gin. Of course not." I said biting my lip as he slid his hands under my shirt to cup my breasts.

"Hermione Jean Granger you -"

But as she was ranting Malfoy started teasing and pinching my nipples and I couldn't take it anymore.

"Ginny, I have to call you back."

As soon as I'd hung up the phone Malfoy chuckled and said, "Fucking finally. I was curious how long I'd have to -"

I didn't let him finish, instead turning around to face him and pulling his face to mine, shutting him up with a kiss.

Two can play at this game, Draco Malfoy.

* * *

**Ginny's in the next chapter, so is Pansy, & maybe Theo and his boyfriend for some comedic relief.**

**Hermione's going to talk to her dad, and maybe we'll see what Draco would do if he ran into Ron...**

**Okay...I'm writing FWB...I swear...but I'm stuck about halfway through the chapter because I literally can't find Hermione's 'voice'.**

**Don't be too mad? :) I'm trying.**

**Review. :)**


	8. Chapter 8

**So much to say, not enough time...**

**HPOV**

* * *

We didn't have sex.

Not by his choice - or at least that's what I would assume - but by mine.

Well no, not exactly by my _choice_ either.

Everything had been fine, and then all of a sudden it was like I couldn't breathe. Literally the air was just _gone_ out of _nowhere._

I freaked out - big time.

And it was bad...really bad.

_"Oh Merlin, stop."_

_He trailed his lips across my neck, but I couldn't feel a thing. It was like someone had sucked all the air out of the room, and I just needed space to be able to breathe again._

_I shoved on his shoulders and tried to catch my breath, ignoring - or trying to ignore - the fact that I was half naked and we were standing in the middle of his bedroom._

_"Granger, what's wrong?" he asked, taking a step towards me._

_I stepped back and shook my head, the air unwilling to enter my lungs. All I could see was Ron standing in front of me, that stupid look on his face as he grabbed my arm and shoved me towards the bedroom._

_"Sit down, look at your feet, and count to ten." said Malfoy, his tone authoritative with a hint of something I only ever heard from Ginny or Harry...concern._

_I felt his hand on my elbow and he had me sit down on the bed, my breathing still coming in gasps._

_"Look at your feet." he said, kneeling in front of me, "And count to ten."_

_I did what he said and looked down at my feet, slowly counting to ten, and I felt my breathing returning to normal._

_My mortification, on the other hand, was at an all time high. I had just flipped out in front of Malfoy - right before we were about to sleep together._

_"Are you okay?" he asked, not touching me, but still kneeling there._

_I nodded slowly, unwilling to meet his eyes, "Yeah, I'm okay."_

_He stood up and grabbed his shirt off the floor, handing it to me, before he disappeared. I slid his shirt on just as he came back with a glass of water._

_"Here, drink this."_

_I did as he said and then stood up, "I'm going to go to bed."_

_"Granger, this isn't a big -"_

_"Please don't, Malfoy." I said, stepping around him._

I hadn't gone to work today, claiming to have a highly contagious sickness that was sure to have me out all week.

I just couldn't face seeing anyone - let alone Malfoy all day at work.

I was content to stay in my room all week and not set foot outside for anything, and that was my plan, until Malfoy barged into my room on the third day.

"Get up."

"Excuse me?" I asked, sitting up and running a hand through my hair.

"I said get up." he said, pulling open the curtains and letting in a blinding stream of light.

I groaned and pulled the covers over my head, unwilling to give up the solitude of my room, let alone for him.

My cheeks were warm just thinking about it.

"You've got five seconds, Granger."

I ignored him, hoping that if I didn't respond he'd just leave.

For a few seconds there was no noise, but then all of a sudden he pulled the blankets off me and yanked my hands, hauling me into a seated position.

"Did you think I was kidding? Get up."

"What the hell is wrong with you?" I asked, glaring at him.

He seemed unfazed by my obvious disapproval, and tossed a pair of shorts and a t-shirt at me.

"Get dressed, Granger, we're going out."

Without waiting for me to respond he left my room, leaving me glaring at empty air - and more than a little confused.

What would Malfoy possibly want to do with me today? Especially after what had happened.

With a groan I got up, mostly for the simple fact that I didn't want him barging back into my room.

After I'd showered and left my hair down to dry, I actually looked at what Malfoy had picked out for me.

A pair of black shorts and a green shirt - _typical._

I didn't have the energy to find something else to wear that would match, though, so I just put on what he'd picked.

I was about to leave the room when I stopped, glancing over at the dresser where I'd put Malfoy's serpent necklace the night I'd come here.

Before I could dwell on _'why',_ I grabbed it and slid it over my head before pushing open my door and walking out into the living room.

"Good, you're ready."

I turned and saw him leaning against the archway to the kitchen, his arms crossed over his chest while he looked at me.

"Ready for what, exactly?"

"We're going out."

I glared at him, annoyed already, but I saw his eyes drift lower and linger on his necklace. His expression softened and he sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"We're going out to eat."

"You want to go to lunch with me?" I asked, confused.

It was one thing to be seen working together, but hanging out together? That was something entirely different.

"I want you to get the hell out of that room." he said, walking past me to put his shoes on.

"Malfoy -"

"Granger, we're going, and maybe at some point today you'll actually make eye contact with me." he said with a smirk.

I felt my cheeks heat and I looked away from him, choosing to look busy by grabbing my purse and sliding into my sandals.

He sighed and before I knew it he was standing in front of me and tilting my face up to look at him.

"It's not a big deal, Granger. Let it go."

I opened my mouth to argue, but he didn't give me the chance, instead taking my arm and apparating outside of a restaurant I'd never been to.

"Where are we?" I asked, eyeing what looked like the outside of an extremely fancy hotel.

"Restaurant Le Meurice."

"This is a hotel." I said as he took my arm and guided me inside.

"I'm aware. The restaurant is inside."

I didn't know if he kept talking, but regardless I didn't hear a word, because the inside of Le Meurice was absolutely _beautiful._

Like...break my bank account beautiful.

"There's no way I can afford this." I said, looking around with wide eyes.

"I know that." he said, saying something in French to the host, who immediately pulled out two menus and led us to a secluded table.

I was completely taken aback by how breathtaking this place was. I mean the 18th century architecture alone was stunning. It was like being inside a work of art.

"Then why are we here?"

"Because I said I was taking you to lunch, and I like the food here." he said, already examining his menu.

I picked mine up with a sigh, and almost got a heart attack from the prices. Who would pay this much money for _food?_

"There is no way I'm ordering anything." I said, closing my menu and glaring at him. "It's way too expensive."

"You may have forgotten this, but I'm more than capable of paying for a meal." he said, not looking up from his menu.

"I don't care. It's too expensive."

"Either you can pick something, or I'll pick something for you." he said, finally looking up at me.

"No."

"You don't strike me as the type to waste food." he said with a smirk.

I glared at him, but he was right. And if I picked something, I could choose the least expensive thing.

I picked up the menu again and scanned over the items, which I couldn't read anyway because everything was in French.

I sighed and closed it, "Just pick something for me."

He smirked, pleased with himself, and motioned for the waiter to come and take our order.

"Sauté de filet de sauce de style Bordeaux boeuf, pommes de terre cuites et le poulet farci aux légumes racines."

The waiter nodded and said something, to which Malfoy nodded and said, "Une bouteille de Shiraz et une bouteille de Pinot Grigio."

_Ah, wine._

Once the waiter left I spoke up.

"What did you order?"

"Beef and chicken."

"So that's why you ordered red and white wine?"

He nodded, "White wine goes with lighter meats, red with heavier."

"Why did you bring me here?" I asked after we'd been sitting in silence for a few minutes.

"Because if I hadn't you'd still be holed up in my flat."

"So?'

"What do you mean _so?_ You need to get out - especially because what you're freaking out over isn't a big deal." he said.

Before I could reply the waiter was back with the two bottles of wine.

He opened both bottles, pouring each into a glass, and after Malfoy tasted them - and approved - he left again.

Malfoy poured me a glass of Pinot Grigio and I took it, taking a sip immediately. It was weird to be here with him, in this fancy French restaurant, drinking incredibly expensive wine, and about to eat the most exquisite meal I'd ever had - and probably _would_ ever have.

But I would have rather sat there in the slight awkward tension we had, than look up and see what I did.

Lavender Brown.

And Ron.

* * *

**DPOV**

I saw Granger's eyes widen and I turned to see where she was looking, and immediately wished I hadn't.

I clenched my fists but turned to Granger and said, "We can leave, if you want."

She took a deep breath and shook her head, "No, um, no...I really want to try the food here."

I nodded slowly, surprised when I saw her sliding the serpent charm back and forth across the chain. When I'd seen she was wearing it earlier I was definitely caught off guard, but somehow I felt...good knowing that she was.

"Granger, if you want to leave -"

She shook her head again and took a sip from her glass, her hand shaking slightly before she responded.

"No, I'm not about to let him dictate where I eat. Besides," she said, her eyes meeting mine and a smirk playing across her features, "I have you here to beat him up."

I couldn't help the chuckle that escaped and said, "True, Merlin knows I'd love to."

She glanced over at where he was sitting, but I snapped my fingers in front of her face, "Don't do that. Talk to me."

"Talk to you?" she asked, as if the notion was foreign and inconceivable.

Which it kind of was.

"We've talked before, back at my flat. You told me you read the ending of books."

"You remember that?"

"Why wouldn't I?" I asked, eyebrow raised.

She shrugged, a slight blush to her cheeks, "I just didn't think you'd remember."

I didn't respond, simply raised an eyebrow again, completely ignoring the waiter when he came with our food.

"Oh my..." she said, her eyes wide as she looked at the food, "It looks amazing - it _smells_ amazing."

I chuckled, pushing my plate toward her, "Try the chicken first."

This time _she_ raised an eyebrow at _me_ and said, "I'm not about to eat your food."

"Tasting," I said, rolling my eyes, "You're tasting it."

With a sigh she did what I said and her eyes widened even further.

"Oh my - Merlin, this is amazing." she groaned.

The look on her face, the way she pulled the from her mouth -_ the groan_ - all of this went straight to my dick.

I chuckled and watched as she tried her steak, and her groan was even louder - at least I knew I'd picked right with the food.

How the fuck could someone make eating a_ fucking steak_ erotic? That wasn't even supposed to be possible.

But there she was, doing just that.

"Now I know why they charge so much here, this is like..._orgasmic_." she said, taking another bite.

Not that I could really focus on that. Her word choice had me a bit...preoccupied.

"Aren't you going to eat?" she asked, motioning to my plate with her fork.

I chuckled and nodded, digging in.

"How do you even know about this place?"

"My father took me here on a business trip." I said, not really wanting to dwell on it.

She seemed to realize this, because she said, "Well I'm really glad you brought me. This is really amazing."

"Granger, if you say amazing one more time -"

She laughed - an actual fucking laugh - and said, "I'm sorry, but it's true."

I rolled my eyes and we talked about a case that she was working on - something about Unicorns - while we finished our dinner.

"Did you want dessert?"

She eyed the menu fondly, but shook her head, "No, you've already spent a fortu -"

"Shut up and pick something." I said, handing the menu to her.

She bit her lip - her plump pink lips that were soft and -

"You pick something. I can't read the menu anyway."

I chuckled and scanned the menu before waving the waiter over.

"Tourte aux pommes caramélisées, s'il vous plaît."_ Caramelized apple pie, please_.

He nodded, "Excellent choix, monsieur."_ Excellent choice, sir._

He disappeared towards the kitchen and I found Granger staring at me. I smirked and she blushed instantly, taking a rather large swig of her wine.

"You never did tell me what you thought of my French."

Her blush deepened and she opened and closed her mouth a few times before stammering, "I mean I told you that...well I mean it's...you're just...I mean..."

"Take a breath." I said, chuckling at her awkwardness.

She opened her mouth to reply, but just then someone caught our attention.

"Well, well, well, look who it is, the ferret and his whore."

Granger's eyes widened and she visibly shrunk in on herself, but I had the opposite problem. I wanted to stand up and knock his fucking lights out.

"Weasley, to what do we owe this displeasure?"

He ignored me, instead leaning across the table, his face inches from Granger's, and said, "So you won't go out to dinner with me, but this ferret asks, and you jump at the idea."

Before I could say - or do - anything, Granger was talking.

"We're just having lunch, Ron, and you're here with Lav -"

"I can do whatever the fuck I want, remem -"

Before he could finish I stood up and shoved him away from Granger, "Say another fucking word, Weasel."

"Or what? Am I supposed to be scared of you?" he snorted, "You're no better than your father. You both deserved to rot in Askab -"

I didn't remember moving, but the next thing I knew Weasley was on the floor and the knuckles of my right hand had a smear of blood on them.

I heard a shriek from behind him and saw Lavender, who was immediately by his side. Not that he seemed to notice, he was too busy glaring at me.

"You're going to regret that." he said, holding his nose.

"Ron, stop it." said Hermione. She had stood up and walked closer to us.

"I'm not coming back to you, I'm not coming back to that house. I've moved on and -"

"Trust me, _Mione,_ you'll be coming back."

"Over my dead body." I snapped.

Lavender was strangely quiet, and I couldn't help but wonder what she thought of this whole scene - but I didn't care enough to dwell on it further.

Weasley didn't get the chance to reply, because security was walking towards us, asking us to leave.

I took Granger's elbow and led her out of the hotel, before apparating back to my flat. I thought she wasn't going to say anything, but _Merlin_ was I wrong.

"What the hell is _wrong with you_? Why would you _punch_ him?" she yelled, turning to slam her hands into my chest.

I barely stumbled, deciding to let her get it all out of her system.

"I mean why the hell would you stoop to his level?" she pushed me again, and then _again,_ and before she could hit me a fourth time I grabbed her arms and pushed her back against the wall.

"Stop it." I snapped.

"No, _you_ stop it. Why the hell would you just -"

"Because he deserved it!"

"As true as that may be, it wasn't your place -"

"Wasn't my place? _Wasn't my fucking place_? You were scared, what the hell was I supposed to -"

"You didn't punch him because I was scared," she interrupted, "You punched him because he said you were like your father...which you're not."

She said the last part quieter, looking up at me through her long black lashes.

She sounded just like my mother, telling me that I shouldn't worry so much about ending up like him - but I'd come fairly close on multiple occasions.

There weren't really too many differences between the two of us, if I were honest with myself.

"Whatever," I said, releasing her arms.

I moved to step away, but she grabbed the collar of my shirt, stopping me.

"I'm serious. You're not like him, Malfoy, no matter how much Ron - or _you_ - might think so." she said, her toffee eyes sparkling up at me.

"Save it, Granger. I don't need to hear this." I said, trying to step away from her, but she only tightened her grip.

"Apparently you do, because you don't know it." she said, her nose in the air.

"Fine, whatever you say."

She rolled her eyes in annoyance, but chuckled and said, "Well finally you learn to listen to me. I _did_ graduate first in our class."

I smirked and raised an eyebrow, taking a step towards her, "I'm sure there's plenty I could teach you."

Her eyes widened and she let go of my shirt, but I had no intention of backing up now. None at all.

"Oh? What kind of things?" she asked softly.

"Hmm," I said, pretending to think, "I could think of a few..._creative,_ things."

A light pink blush spread across her cheeks, and I trailed my fingertips over the now warm skin, causing her breath to hitch.

I loved how responsive she was, and not in a fake way like the other bints -

_Why the fuck wasn't I kissing her?_

"You do seem to have an interesting imagination." she said, her arms winding around my neck.

I moved mine to her waist and said, "Indeed,"

"Stop talking and kiss me."

I didn't need to be told twice.

I leaned down and captured her lips, pushing her further back into the wall.

I slid my tongue along her bottom lip, and she opened her mouth instantly, our tongues clashing together while my hands slid up and down her sides.

I remembered how soft her skin was, and I wanted nothing more than to touch her - _everywhere._

I pushed her shirt off her, and she did the same with mine, her hands wandering up and down my chest.

I moved slightly, trailing kisses down her neck, across her collarbones, and over the exposed skin of her breasts, a smug smirk tugging at the corner of my mouth when I heard her soft moan.

She tugged on my hair, pulling my face back up to hers, and kissed me again.

I slid my hand behind her to unclasp her bra, but before I could someone was knocking on my door.

I groaned, content not to answer it, but Granger wasn't having any of that. She pushed me back, and while sliding her shirt back on said, "Answer it."

I sighed and walked over to the door, swinging it all the way open before checking to see who it was.

Though by the look of shock on her face, I definitely should have.

"Oh my - _Merlin,_ what in the _world_ are you doing here Mione?"

* * *

**Cliffy, I know, but this would have been soooo long had I continued, so you'll just have to stay tuned to see what Ginny has to say about Hermione's current...living situation.**

**Review lovelies. (:**


	9. Chapter 9

**Okay, so I don't know why this chapter was so hard for me, but I literally couldn't find Draco or Hermione's voice. I have nooo idea why, but yeah...sorry for the wait (but do I really even need to say it anymore?) Classes are insane, and my car decided to cost me over $3,000...**

**But that's all beside the point. I should be updating FWB within the next week/ week and a half (hopefully), so keep an eye out for that.**

**Enjoy.**

* * *

**DPOV**

Weaslette was the last person I expected to see at my door, and the expression on her face let me know that Granger was the last person _she_ expected to see here.

"Um, Ginny, I can explain -"

"I didn't actually think Ron was serious when he told me you were _living_ with _Malfoy,_ but obviously he was telling the truth." said Weaslette, stepping around me and walking into my flat.

"Sure, come on in." I said sarcastically, shutting the door behind her.

"You shut up, I'm not talking to you yet." she snapped, glaring at me.

I raised an eyebrow and looked at Granger, who shook her head and turned to her friend.

"Ginny, the only reason Ron told you that was because he got mad at me. We saw him earlier with Lavender and things got a little out of control."

"He said that Malfoy hit - wait a minute, he was with _Lavender_?"

Granger nodded, "Yeah. Malfoy was just trying to do something nice for me, because I was having a hard time, so he took me to lunch. Ron showed up with Lavender and a little while later he came over to our table."

"That son of a bitch." muttered Weaslette, "He told Harry and I that he wasn't seeing her anymore. He _swore_ that he was getting better - trying to get you back even!"

I snorted, "Yeah, he's trying to get her back alright."

"Shut it." snapped Granger, but I'd already caught Weaslette's attention.

"What do you mean?" she asked, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"He doesn't mean anything." said Granger, tugging Weaslette's hand and walking her into the living room.

They sat down, but I remained standing, leaning against the wall.

"He just wants me back, Gin, but I don't want to go back. I'm better without him."

"But he's trying to get better, he told me so." said Weaslette.

Granger shook her head and said, "He _lied,_ Gin. He lied to you about seeing Lavender, and he's lying to you about getting better. The reasons I left are still there, and I don't think they're going anywhere."

"But Hermione -"

"If you think your prick of a brother has really changed then you're completely stu -"

"Malfoy!" snapped Granger, glaring at me, "That's enough."

"What even happened, Mione. You know you can tell me anything." said Weaslette, looking at Granger with wide eyes.

Granger looked to me, and her face was paler than I'd ever seen it before, and for _some fucking reason_ I took pity on her.

"Weaslette, as great as it is to have you in my home, we were just heading out."

She smirked and said, "You don't have a shirt on, Malfoy, save it."

I opened my mouth to respond, but Granger was already talking.

"Yeah, because I spilled water on his shirt. He was about to change and then he was going to come with me to meet his mother. She said she wanted to talk about how he was doing at work."

I was slightly impressed at her ability to come up with a lie like that. Not that I should've been too surprised, she was smart.

"Why aren't you staying in your own flat?" asked Weaslette, not moving from her spot on the couch.

"Ron stopped by...I didn't feel safe staying -"

"Didn't feel safe? This is _Ron_ we're talking about! He wouldn't hurt anybody." said Weaslette, her cheeks tinting with indignation.

Granger sighed, and I could tell she didn't want to be having this conversation. Unluckily for her Weaslette seemed adamant about continuing it.

"Ginny, you don't understand -"

"Then explain it to me, Hermione, because I'm totally lost."

"It doesn't matter, Gin. Everything's fine. I'm staying here for a little while until I figure out what I'm going to do." said Granger, standing up.

Weaslette stood too and asked, "Going to do about what?"

Instead of answering Granger hugged her and said, "I'm fine, Gin. If I wasn't I'd tell you."

"Promise?"

Something flashed across Granger's face, but she covered it quickly and smiled, "Of course. You're my best friend."

"But then why didn't you ask to stay with me?"

"You and Harry are so busy lately with the wedding planning, I would've just gotten in the way. I'm fine here." she said, looking at me, "Malfoy's not so bad."

I snorted, "Back at you, Granger."

Weaslette looked between the two of us and leaned forward, whispering something in Granger's ear, to which she shook her head so hard that her curls smacked her in the face.

This seemed to appease Weaslette - at least for now.

"I'll talk to Ron, he should know -"

"No!" said Granger, her eyes wide, "Don't say anything. I wasn't kidding when I said I was done, Gin."

"But Mione -"

"You heard her," I said, pulling open the door, "And we really do need to go. My mother's waiting."

Weaslette sighed, but hugged Granger one more time before leaving, but not without a glare in my direction.

I closed the door and heard Granger let out a deep breath.

"Why don't you just tell her?"

She raised an eyebrow and picked up my shirt from the floor, tossing it to me, "Because Ron's her brother, and no matter how much I might hate him sometimes, I still don't want there to be stress between him and his family because of me."

I snorted, "That's the stupidest thing I've heard. He's violent, Granger. He could seriously hurt you and -"

"You think I don't know that?" she snapped.

"You don't act like you do."

"Regardless of what's happened, he was my best friend -"

"Exactly, _was._ Friends don't treat each other how he treats you." I said, sliding my shirt on.

"I know." she said, sitting back down on the couch, "I know, and that's the bad part."

"Bad part?"

She looked over at me and opened her mouth, but shut it again, just as quickly.

I sighed and walked into the kitchen. I pulled out a bottle of Merlot and two glasses before walking over to her.

"Trying to get me drunk, Malfoy?" she asked, a slight smirk on her face.

I chuckled and handed her a glass before filling mine and setting the bottle on the coffee table.

"You seem to be pretty good at doing that by yourself."

She rolled her eyes, "Touche."

I watched as she shifted, stretching her legs out in front of her - and fuck it all but I wanted to run my hands over her smooth skin, hell, I wanted a lot more than that.

_Focus on something else you idiot._

"So why'd you tell me if you haven't told anyone else?"

She looked over at me, a strange emotion swimming in her eyes, before she said, "Sometimes it's easier to talk to people who you don't really know...and who don't really know you."

I didn't know what to say to that, and she seemed to realize it, because she smiled - one of those Granger-like smiles, and asked, "Do you want to run the business?"

I raised an eyebrow, "Eventually."

"Well if you couldn't - or didn't - do that, what would you do?"

I snorted, "Why wouldn't I do that?"

She rolled her eyes, "Because you didn't want to."

"But I do -"

"It blew up! Something catastrophic happened! _Merlin,_ now what would you do?" she asked, clearly exasperated.

I chuckled and actually thought about it. What _would_ I do if I couldn't run the business?

"I guess I would start my own business."

Granger groaned, "The point of this is to think of something totally different."

"Well what would you do if you weren't working at the Ministry?"

* * *

**HPOV**

"Healer."

Malfoy raised an eyebrow in surprise and asked, "Really, why?"

I shrugged, "I've always been fascinated with how they save lives...if I wasn't at the Ministry, that's what I'd do. Or circus performer."

Malfoy choked on his drink and laughed - actually _laughed._

I tried to act indignant and said, "I don't know why you're laughing. I'm dead serious. I could be a fabulous acrobat."

He stopped laughing and looked at me, "You're flexible?"

I nodded, "Before I went to Hogwarts I was in gymnastics for a few years."

He smirked and said, "That should come in handy later."

I could feel my face flush, but I managed to ask, "So what would you do?"

"Masseur."

I raised an eyebrow and asked, "Why?"

"Because I'm good at it." he said, that cocky smirk on his face - as usual.

"I don't believe you." I said, crossing my arms over my chest.

He smirked, "I could prove it to you."

I tried to backtrack - _immediately_ - but Malfoy was already moving towards me.

"No, really, it's fine. I totally believe -"

"Stop being such a baby and face that way." he said, twisting my shoulders so that I moved, facing away from him.

He muttered something under his breath and all of a sudden my hair was piled on top of my head in a bun.

I was about to turn around to say something - Merlin only knows what - but instead Malfoy moved his hands to my shoulders.

_Oh. My. Merlin._

He wasn't kidding when he said he was good at it...like...really good at it. I relaxed into his touch, enjoying a moment of calm.

His hands moved over my shoulders, gently kneading my neck, before moving back down. He asked, "So tell me, Granger, am I proving it to you?"

"Yes," I said, my voice coming out breathier than I would've liked.

He chuckled - because the bastard had to notice _everything_ - and said, "You know, typically people give massages _without_ clothes on."

I turned around and smacked his hands away, a bright blush flaming across my cheeks, "Malfoy!"

Ever since our last encounter when I'd had a _royal meltdown_ I was completely against trying anything like that again.

Obviously I'd gotten a bit...caught in the moment earlier, but it wouldn't happen again...well at least it wouldn't go any further than that.

"What? It's not like I haven't seen you in less." he said, his fingertips brushing over my cheek.

I realized that he did that often, and I didn't really understand why. The gesture was so unlike something I would've ever pictured him doing, least of all to me.

"You've seen me without a shirt on, that's hardly naked." I said, attempting to keep my composure.

Though the way we were sitting made that difficult.

I was practically _on his lap_ since I'd turned around to glare at him - of course I regretted that decision now, but hindsight is twenty twenty.

"We could always change that." he said, his lips ghosting across my neck.

I knew that I should push him away - if not for the fear of having another meltdown, then for the simple fact that he was Malfoy and I was Granger.

We were crossing lines that I wasn't sure we should be crossing.

"Malfoy -"

"No," he said, leaning back to look at me, "You don't get to think about this."

I raised an eyebrow and asked, "What do you mean?"

"You overthink everything to _death,_ Granger. Don't do it with this."

"Of course you would say that." I said, standing up.

He would say anything to get into someone's pants - and I suppose now he was trying to get into mine.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing," I said, walking out of the living room and into the kitchen. I needed water. All the wine was making me light headed.

He followed me, leaning against the counter while I grabbed a water bottle from the fridge.

"Look, Granger, I'm not going to be your friend like Potter or Longbottom, because I can't be that for you. What I _can_ do is give you something you don't have to think about." he said, his steely gray eyes watching me.

It was unsettling sometimes how he did that. It was like he knew what I was thinking - like he could see right through me.

I thought about what he said, and he had a point. With everything going on, I really was thinking about a lot - but he was offering me something that would be easy.

But what kind of person did that make me, for sleeping with someone who made it their goal to sleep with as many women as possible?

On top of that, someone who didn't really like me to begin with?

And on top of _that_ - this was _Malfoy_! It was a completely ridiculous idea.

He wasn't looking for another friend - but then again neither was I, and especially not in Malfoy. He wasn't as horrible a person as he used to be, but he wasn't exactly the nicest person either. We were just two entirely different people and -

"Granger, stop." he said, a smirk on his face as he walked around the counter towards me.

I put my hands up, backing up until my back hit the other counter and said, "Stay right there. It's impossible to think straight with you so close."

His smirk grew and he said, "The point is _not_ to think."

"I don't want to be just another one of your weekly girls, Malfoy." I said, the words slipping out before I could stop myself.

A strange expression crossed over his features, but it was gone just as quickly and he stepped forward until he was directly in front of me.

"How many weeks have you been here?"

"Almost three."

"And how many times have I brought a girl home?"

"Well none, but -"

"How many times have I slept with a girl since you've been staying here?" he asked, his hands moving to either side of me on the counter.

"How should I know what -"

"Granger."

"Fine, none." I said, exasperated, "But you can't expect me to believe it's because of me."

He snorted, "Of course it's not because of you, bint. Maybe I've just changed what I want."

Now it was _my_ turn to snort, because Draco Malfoy was not the type of person to just change what he wanted from women.

"You don't seriously expect me to believe -"

Before I could finish he was kissing me. _Hard._

He tangled his hands into my hair and pulled me closer, biting my bottom lip before sliding his tongue along it.

I parted my lips, our tongues instantly stroking each other, while my arms slowly wound their way up around his neck.

His lips were soft and his hands had moved from my hair to my sides, my waist, my -

_Oh Merlin, we needed to stop._

He moved away from my lips, trailing kisses down my neck, nipping at the sensitive skin, and causing me to moan.

I felt his smirk against my skin and dug my nails into his shoulders.

He growled -_ literally growled_ - and pulled my hair so that I was looking up at him, before he crashed his lips down on mine again.

_So Malfoy had a thing for nails..._

I pushed his shirt from his shoulders, revealing alabaster skin as perfect as marble, and slid my hands up and down his taut stomach, enjoying the feel of his muscles flexing beneath my fingers.

He slid his hands under my shirt, pulling it off, my bra following soon after.

He moved his hands to my waist and lifted me onto the counter, stepping between my legs, his hands wandering over my thighs.

He moved back to my neck and bit down on my shoulder causing me to dig my nails into his back.

He groaned and slid his hands to my arse, pulling me forward so that I was pressed against his _more than noticeable erection._

I moaned at the contact, forcing myself not to tell him that we should just do it right here in the kitchen.

He chuckled and brought his lips back to mine while his hands cupped my breasts. He flicked his thumbs over my nipples and I arched into his touch.

I felt his smirk against my mouth and decided to get even.

I slid my hand lower, rubbing him through the fabric of his pants. He groaned and jerked forward, and then it was my turn to smirk.

Though my victory didn't last long. He dropped his head to my breasts and started licking and biting my nipples.

The sharp sting seemed to go straight to my crotch and I pushed Malfoy's pants down, not in the least concerned with the consequences anymore.

I had officially stopped thinking.

I just hoped it wouldn't get me into trouble.

* * *

**Alright, well...yeah...there's that. Idk...it's...whatever. It's after 2am and I have school tomorrow, so this will just have to do.**

**And before everyone flips out, don't worry my lemon lovers, I'll continue this scene in the next chapter.**

**Review**


	10. Authors Note!

**Okay, I'm sorry for doing this, but it couldn't wait until I posted the next chapter (because let's be honest I have no idea when that's going to be) so I decided to do an Authors note here. **

**A guest review really got me thinking, and I wanted to explain a few things (on the off chance that this person reads it) or just to help someone else out who's thinking the same thing.**

**_"for fucks sake TELL THE DAMNED AUTHORITIES! Take it from someone who knows! she's a fucking moron in this fic, what have you done to hermione?! there's not even a HINT of her, just a weak whiny, bitch who doesn't think before she speaks or acts. getting raped changes you, but not your core. it might bury you and twist you, but you're still there, and you can still dig your way out. this is beyond the pale." _  
**

**Alright, ****so on telling the authoritie****s : ****some people who get abu****sed don't go to the police, for whatever rea****son, it'****s not unheard of - in fact it'****s quite common. _E_****specially****since her ex i****s a well known and re****spected member of the "police force". **

**On her being a "fucking moron in thi****s fic" : I appreciate your view on my character (of cour****se I'm inclined to di****sagree with you, but that'****s not the point) **

******************On getting raped : ****she wa****sn't...****sooo I'm not too ****sure how to re****spond to thi****s, and the following thing****s in the review****. ****  
**

**********************************************Hope that helped, hope that explained ****some thing****s on why I'm writing thi****s the way I am. **

**********************************************************Everyone'****s entitled to their own opinion, and I re****spect that thi****s per****son doe****sn't like it, but I feel the need to explain - e****specially about the rape thing, becau****se that wa****sn't accurate. **

******************************************************************************************Okay, I'm done ranting, next chapter ****should be po****sted right after FWB! **


	11. Chapter 10

**So I apologize again for the A/N, but I felt it was necessary. The story is called Where We Go From Here for a reason - they're both trying to figure out what they need to do to move forward with their lives, so of course they're going to make stupid decisions - it's part of the story. The point is to watch the characters grow. If they were perfect from the start I wouldn't need to write anything lol.**

**That being said, enjoy the lemon!**

* * *

**DPOV**

I hadn't actually expected Granger to listen to me and just go with it, but I wasn't about to complain.

Fucking was something I knew well, and she could definitely use the distraction.

I slid my hands up her back, caught up in how soft her skin was - like silk under my fingertips.

Her hands pushed my jeans from my hips and I couldn't help but smirk. She was definitely taking my advice.

I tangled my hands back into her hair and yanked her lips to mine in a bruising kiss. It was like I was trying to prove that she was mine - which she wasn't.

And I didn't want her to be.

I would've continued with my moral analysis of myself, but Granger's hand tentatively slid against the silk of my boxers, thoroughly anchoring me to the moment.

I slid my tongue into her mouth, battling with hers, before biting her bottom lip, sucking it into my mouth.

She moaned into my mouth and I slid my hands to her waist before moving to brush my thumb over her clit through her panties.

Her breath caught and she pulled away from me, tipping her head back against the cabinet and exposing her neck to my lips.

I nipped and kissed the soft skin while my thumb continued with the light pressure to her clit, all the while enjoying the soft breathless sighs that escaped her parted lips.

She tilted her head back to look at me, her hands moving to my shoulders, "Malfoy,"

I groaned, "Granger, don't -"

"I'm not, but I'd rather not do this on your kitchen counter." she said, her voice soft.

I couldn't help but smirk and lean forward to whisper in her ear, "What, the idea of kitchen sex doesn't get you all hot and bothered?"

I heard her breath hitch, and if I wasn't so preoccupied with kissing her neck I would've looked to see her cheeks tint pink.

"Well - I mean it's not - I just figured that you -"

I let her stumble over her words for a few more seconds before I chuckled and moved away from her neck to look down at her.

"Granger, I'm kidding."

She seemed to let out a sigh of relief, but I smirked and said, "At least for right now."

Before she could say anything I kissed her again, sliding my hands to her arse and lifting her up.

She squealed in response, her arms flying around my neck and her legs tightening around my waist - which only caused her panty clad pussy to press even harder against my already hard dick.

I stifled my groan and carried her back towards my room, setting her down outside the door.

"Wait, your room?" she asked, her eyes slightly panicked.

I raised an eyebrow, "Something wrong with my room, Granger?"

She shook her head and said, "No, no of course not...it's just that last time -"

"Don't even think about that." I said, realizing what she was talking about.

The last time we'd tried this hadn't exactly ended up how I expected. She'd completely shut down, and she still hadn't told me why - though I didn't really need her to. It wasn't my business - for one - and for two, I knew it no doubt had something to do with Weasley.

"What if -"

"It won't." I said, pushing her back against the door and kissing her.

She relaxed, her hands tangling themselves into my hair while mine slid up and down her sides, moving to massage her pert breasts before I pulled away from her to open the door.

As soon as I had kicked the door closed behind us, Granger had her arms around my neck again and was kissing me, her tongue sliding into my mouth to meet mine.

I moved my hands to her hips and slowly started pushing her towards the bed. When her knees hit the mattress she fell back and I chuckled.

She rolled her eyes and motioned for me to join her, and I did, sliding between her legs so that I hovered over her.

Her toffee colored eyes were wide, her curls were even crazier than usual, and her pink pouty lips were kiss swollen - and somehow it only served to make my dick even harder, because I had been the one to cause all of it.

"Do you think -"

"No," I said, cutting her off with a short peck on the lips, "I don't. Not right now."

She smirked and I began trailing open mouthed kisses along her neck, over her breasts, and down her stomach, stopping at the waistband of her lace panties.

"Why, Granger, I didn't think you had it in you." I said, smirking at her.

"What, I'm not allowed to wear sexy underwear?" she asked indignantly.

I chuckled, slowly sliding them from her legs before settling between them, "Quite the contrary, actually. I hope you continue to."

I heard her breath hitch when I slid my hands along the insides of her thighs and I couldn't help but add, "Or you could just not wear any."

"Malfoy -!" her complaint was cut off when I brought my tongue down to her already dripping pussy.

She let out a soft moan while I flicked the tip of my tongue against her clit before thrusting it inside her tight heat.

"Oh, Merlin." she moaned, one of her hands tangling in my hair.

I moved back up to her clit, sucking it into my mouth, before sliding a finger inside her slick passage.

I groaned at how tight she was, which only made her let out an even louder moan and buck up against my mouth.

I slid another finger inside her and curved them up, stroking against the perfect spot that had her writhing and moaning and mumbling incoherent words under her breath.

"Malfoy - oh Merlin - don't stop, please don't stop." she said, the hand in my hair tightening.

I had no intention of stopping, not until she came - _hard._ Maybe even multiple times. It's not like we didn't have time.

I sped up my fingers and my tongue, and a few sharp intakes of breath and loud moans later her back arched off the bed and her hand in my hair tightened to _almost_ painful.

Not that I really even noticed that, because she was moaning my name over and over again while I continued pumping my fingers inside her until her breathing had slowed.

I kissed my way back up her body and found her cheeks flushed and her eyes bright.

"Wow," she said breathlessly.

I chuckled, "I think that was a little better than _'wow',_ Granger. In fact I'm a little insulted that you -"

She didn't let me finish, instead yanking me down and sliding her tongue into my mouth as if she wanted to taste herself.

_Fuck that was hot._

"Do you have any idea how fucking sexy you are?" I groaned, trailing kisses down her neck to bite her shoulder.

Her hands were busy pushing my boxers down, and I chuckled shifting slightly and kicking them off.

Being skin to skin with Granger like this...it was different than what I would've expected. I usually had self control. There hadn't been a woman yet who could break it, but this woman - _Granger_ of all people - was slowly wearing away at any restraint I had.

She was just so bloody -

She lifted her hips up, grinding her wet pussy against my dick, and I snapped.

I slammed into her in one thrust, enjoying the way her eyes widened, her lips parted, and her nails dug into my shoulders.

"Fuck, you're tight." I groaned, speeding up my movements.

"Oh Merlin." she moaned, her breath hitching.

I leaned down and trailed sloppy kisses along the column of her neck, before she pulled me up and crashed her lips against mine.

"Wrap your legs around me." I said between pants.

She did what I said and I slid even deeper into her warm heat.

_Fuck, when had anything ever felt this good?_

"Malfoy - oh Merlin -" I could feel her walls starting to flutter around me, so I slid a hand between us to rub her clit.

"Come for me, Granger." I said, shifting slightly.

She gasped and ground against me even harder, mumbling a string of incoherent words under her breath.

All of a sudden she came - hard - around me, and I absentmindedly noticed her scratch her nails down my back, but all of that paled in comparison to what it felt like to feel Granger come around me.

Very few times had an orgasm ever snuck up on me, but _holy fucking hell_ did it ever.

She slid her hands into my hair, yanking me down to muffle my groans against her mouth while I came inside her.

I rolled off of her, and for a while both of us just stared at the ceiling.

Out of everything I was feeling, only one thing was for sure - we _would_ be doing that again.

* * *

**HPOV**

I had just slept with Malfoy.

_I_ had just _slept_ with _Malfoy._

And I was okay with that - surprisingly enough.

I felt better than I had in _months_ and I knew it had everything to do with the two _mind blowing_ orgasms he'd given me.

He.

Malfoy.

_He_ as in _Malfoy._

Merlin, he was good in bed.

I closed my eyes and tried to slow my breathing, while he tried to do the same - obviously having more luck than I was.

After a few minutes my breathing was back to normal, and I could see him looking at me from the corner of my eye.

_Big girl panties, Hermione!_

I turned and looked at him, my breath catching at how good just-fucked-Malfoy looked. His hair was tussled and hung in his eyes, there was a slight sheen of sweat that covered his chest, and his eyes were practically smoldering - then again that part could have just been my imagination.

I should get out of his bed. Like _now._

I sat up, pulling the blanket up to cover my chest while I glanced around the room trying to locate my missing clothes - then again half of them were probably in the kitchen.

Like my bra.

And my shirt.

_Great._

Malfoy chuckled and said, "It's nothing I haven't seen before, Granger...and fully intend to see again."

I felt the blush rise to my cheeks as I struggled to come up with a response to that.

He wanted to do that again. With me. He wanted to have sex _again_ with _me._

"This isn't funny." I said, glaring at him when he tried to snatch the blanket away from me.

"No, _funny_ isn't exactly the word I'd use for this either." he said sitting up, his silver eyes sparkling with amusement.

I looked over to his side of the bed and found what I assumed was his sleep shirt - it was a green silk button up - so before he could say anything I slid it on. Luckily for me it fell just to my thighs, so it covered enough for me to get out of bed and slide my panties on.

I turned back around to find Malfoy looking at me, a smirk on his face.

"What?"

"I could fuck you all over again, seeing you wearing that." he said, his eyes roaming over my body in a way that made me want to hide and jump back into bed with him all at the same time.

"Could you?" I asked, tilting my head to the side.

I knew I was playing with fire, because as cool and collected as Malfoy was, he was definitely _burning_ on the inside.

He stood up, a predatory smile on his face as he walked towards me, and said, "Yeah, I could."

And boy did he.

* * *

"It's good to have you back, Hermione. Last week was so boring without you. Plus the Big Bad Boss decided to double everyone's workload."

I smiled at Justin, stopping outside his office door with a stack of files in my hands. Malfoy had left a note stuck to the front door this morning that said;

_Family thing, at work late._

So I was back to running to get files myself - which I would have to get used to again anyway considering Malfoy wasn't going to be permanently staying here. Just until his mother thought he'd learned something.

"Merlin, and it's burning up in here." I said, shifting the files slightly so I could fan myself with one.

He groaned and tugged at his already loose tie before saying, "It's like they're trying to kill us. I thought they said they'd have this fixed by now?"

I shrugged, "Who knows? It looks like we're just going to have to deal with it for now."

He dropped his head on his desk, with what sounded to me like a rather painful thud, and waved me away.

I chuckled and pushed open the door to my office, kicking it shut behind me.

Before I could attempt to set the files on my desk they were taken out of my hands. I huffed a sigh of relief and watched as Malfoy set them down on the desk for me.

"Thank you." I said, moving around him to sit down.

"It _is_ kind of my job." he said with a smirk.

"Well I've managed to get by." I said, resisting the urge to stick my tongue out at him.

He chuckled and sat down in the other chair, and even though I was flipping through the files I could feel him watching me.

"How did your family thing go?" I asked, not taking my eyes off my files.

"Not as fun as what I could've been doing had I been here." he said, and I jumped at how close his voice was.

I looked up and saw he was leaning over the back of my chair, his breath tickling my ear.

"Working?" I asked, trying to fight the blush off my cheeks.

He chuckled and must have decided to take pity on me, because he moved back to his own seat and said, "Yes, Granger, working."

My phone rang a few minutes later and he answered it, and I could tell immediately who was on the other line, just by the way Malfoy's jaw clenched.

"No, she's not in right now." he said, his tone clipped.

"Malfoy -"

He shot me a glare, and I quickly clamped my mouth shut. Merlin forbid I face Malfoy's wrath.

"You'd better watch it, Weasley." and without waiting for Ron to say anything else, he hung up.

"What'd he say?" I asked, watching him in confusion.

I never understood why Malfoy hated Ron so much. I mean sure, he wasn't a great person, but nothing Ron had done had ever affected him.

And yeah, his mother's relationship was similar to what Ron and I had, but what did he care? I mean obviously he _cared,_ I was staying with him - by _his_ request, no less - but every time Ron called it was like he wanted to beat him to a bloody pulp.

"Nothing," he said, his voice calm, "I think you should tell Weaslette...hell, even Potter."

I rolled my eyes, "You expect me to tell his sister or his best friend? Are you mental?"

"They're going to find out eventually, Granger, especially if he keeps this shit up."

I ignored him, pretending to be immersed in jotting down a few notes from certain files, but he wasn't having it.

He snatched the quill out of my hand and said, "This is serious. You can't just let him -"

"I can and I will." I snapped. "He hasn't done anything so far -"

"Are you stupid?" asked Malfoy, his voice getting louder, "If I hadn't shown up at your flat almost a month ago he could've bloody well killed you."

"He wouldn't do that." And I honestly didn't think he would. Ron was violent, there was no arguing that, but I never, and I mean _never_ thought he would do that. Beneath all that hatred and anger was still the person I had known.

Now I didn't want to know him like that _again,_ but he wasn't a lost cause like Malfoy seemed to think. I had no delusions about fixing him, though, that wasn't a job for me, but I knew it was still possible.

I had to believe it.

"You're supposed to be the brightest witch of our time, but you can be really daft sometimes." he said, shaking his head.

"Is any of this even your business, Malfoy? You're just here to answer the phones and get files, not comment on my personal life." I snapped, slamming the files closed and standing up.

He stood too and said, "I answer your phones when he calls, you're staying at my flat because of him, we've fucked -"

"Stop -" I tried to interrupt, but he kept right on talking.

"So I think I'm pretty fucking involved in your personal life already."

I opened and closed my mouth, but I couldn't think of anything to say that was even close to how I felt, so I snatched the files and walked out of my office.

Who did Malfoy think he was? Commenting on my life like he knew anything.

Then again he knew more than anybody else - but that was only because it was easier for me to have him know than anyone else.

And I had to admit that he _had_ saved me when Ron had showed up at my apartment...and again at the restaurant.

I groaned and ran a hand through my hair, shoving the files back into their correct spots.

What had I gotten myself into? I mean I was actually thinking about Malfoy and how he could be _right_ - not about everything, but about _some_things...

Like maybe it was time I payed Ginny and Harry a visit.

Or I could just keep it to myself like I'd been doing, because that seemed to be working quite well for me.

I groaned again, leaning against the wall. Why was I lying to myself? This _clearly_ wasn't working, not really anyway.

I mean if it was working I wouldn't be living with Malfoy, and we wouldn't have -

"I'm sorry."

I looked up and found Malfoy standing in the doorway of the records room, his arms crossed over his chest.

"What?"

He sighed and stepped into the room, letting the door fall shut behind him, "I said I'm sorry. I shouldn't...I shouldn't tell you what to do, no matter how stupid your decisions are." he smirked at the end and I couldn't help but roll my eyes.

"Thanks...I think."

He chuckled and walked over to me, placing his hands on either side of my head against the wall, "It's too bloody hot." he said, his cool breath against the side of my neck.

"Then we should probably get back to my office." I said, trying to keep my breathing steady.

He chuckled and said, "I think it's hot in there too."

"Well I don't see why you're telling -"

Before I could finish he leaned down and kissed me, his hands tangling in my hair.

I slid my hands down to his waist and he pulled back with a smirk on his face, "I think we should lose these clothes."

My eyes widened and I shook my head, "Malfoy, we're at work, and anybody could walk in here -"

"That's the exciting part." he said, amusement clear on his features.

"There is no way we're doing this in the records room." I said, pushing him back.

He smirked and took my hand, and before I knew it we were back in my office and he was shutting the door.

"We're not supposed to use magic, it's against the new -"

"Remember that thing I said about thinking?"

"Um...don't?"

"Exactly."

So I didn't.

* * *

**Okay, I know I said I'd update this after FWB...didn't really work out like that because I couldn't think of anything to write for FWB...so instead of making you guys wait for five thousand years until I _did_ think of what to write, I decided to finish the lemon from before.**

**I'll update FWB ****soon, I ****swear. I have part of the chapter written already. **

**********Alright, review lovelie****s (: **


	12. Chapter 11

**Well here we go, the next chapter. I hope you guys like it, even though there isn't a lot of interaction between Draco and Hermione, but you'll see why it was necessary.**

**Enjoy.**

* * *

**DPOV**

"You should really let me heal that."

I looked back over at Granger, who was leaning against the doorframe of my bedroom watching me.

I rolled my eyes and slid a shirt on, "Don't worry about it. Besides," I said, walking over to her, "I like a few battle scars."

A blush tinted her cheeks and she said, "They look like they hurt."

I shrugged, "No pain, no gain."

"Me scratching the shit out of your back doesn't gain you anything, though."

"Trust me, it does."

She opened her mouth, no doubt to argue with me, but I honestly didn't want to argue with her about it. I liked having those marks on my back. It was a reminder that Granger wasn't as composed as she led people to believe.

She'd been staying with me for about a month and a half now, and it was safe to say we fucked on a _very_ regular basis.

She still hadn't told Weaslette or Potter, but apparently she was going out to lunch with them today to tell them.

"When are you leaving?"

She sighed and glanced at the clock. It was already half past twelve.

"I guess I should be going now." she said, biting her lip.

"It'll be fine, Granger. They're your friends."

"They're Ron's friends too." she said, turning and walking out of my room.

I followed her and watched as she slipped into a pair of sandals and grabbed her purse from the table by the door.

"They'll believe you. You'll see." I said, leaning against the back of the couch.

She turned around to face me and said, "I'm scared."

My eyes widened and I sighed, stretching out a hand to her. She came and leaned against the couch next to me.

"You're going to be fine. They're going to be shocked, I mean why wouldn't they be? But they'll believe you. I don't know Potter well, but I know him well enough."

She rested her hand over mine for a moment before moving away from the couch, "Thank you, Malfoy. For...you know."

Before I could say anything she left, the door shutting behind her with a soft click.

I ran a hand through my hair, too preoccupied to notice my floo light up.

"Earth to Draco."

I jumped, glaring over at Pansy.

"You know, you _could_ use the front door."

She shrugged, pushing me towards my shoes, "This was faster. Now put your shoes on."

"I didn't know we were going anywhere." I said sarcastically.

"Did you completely forget about my parents End of the Summer Ball?"

_Fuck me._

"Of course not." I lied.

She snorted, clearly not believing me, "Who are you bringing?"

"Bringing?"

"As your date? You know it's mandatory."

"I don't have a girlfriend, Pansy."

"You didn't have a girlfriend last year, yet somehow you managed to show up with a respectable girl. I assume you'll be able to do the same this year, especially since you have one living with you."

My eyes widened and I almost forgot how to speak.

"Are you insane? What makes you think Granger wants to go to some ball?"

"What girl doesn't want a night where she can get all dressed up?" she argued.

"No,"

"Why not? Do you know how left out she's going to feel when everyone's there except her?"

"Who's going?" I asked, eyebrow raised.

"I happen to know Ginny, Harry, Luna, and all our friends are going to be there, along with over half of the Wizarding Community." she said, a smug look on her face.

I groaned and ran a hand through my hair, "Fine, I'll ask her."

She clapped her hands together and said, "Great, now let's go get you a suit."

"I don't think I need your help finding -"

"Nonsense, I happen to know Hermione's going to wear a red dress, so I need to make sure you get a red tie and -"

"There's no way I'm wearing red."

"Of course you are. Couples match."

"We're not a couple."

"Well you will be for that night." said Pansy, clearly done with the argument.

"We'll see." I mumbled, sliding my shoes on.

"About the shade of red? Of course. We won't know that until she gets her dress." she said, a satisfied smirk on her face.

I decided to just leave it alone for now. There was no way Granger was actually going to go to this stupid ball with me anyway, so all this was for nothing.

Besides, I could think of a few things I'd rather -

"Draco!"

I jumped and looked over at Pansy, who was standing by the open door, a shit eating grin on her face.

"Where's your head at today?"

I shrugged, "Nowhere."

"Right," she said, hooking her arm through mine as we walked outside, "We're best friends, Draco. You know you can talk to me."

I ran a hand through my hair and groaned, "There's nothing to talk about."

"I'm not an idiot. I knew it that night at the restaurant when you saw Hermione. Your jaw practically hit the floor and you couldn't keep your eyes off her."

"It's not a big surprise that she's hot."

"Plenty of girls are _'hot',_ Draco, you of all people know that." she said, rolling her eyes.

"What's your point?"

"You obviously see something else in her, so spill."

"Spill what?"

I had no idea why I was continuing this conversation, because it clearly wasn't going anywhere. I didn't want to talk about Granger with Pansy - or anybody.

"How long have you two been sleeping together?"

"What?"

"Oh don't play dumb with me. I've known you for years, I know _you._ So there's no use trying to deny it. I know I'm right." she said, a smug smile on her face.

"Why does any of this matter, Pans? You never took an interest in my sex life before."

"You never slept with an actual human being before."

"What?" I asked, letting her tug me into Calvin Klein.

"You didn't know any of them, you didn't care about any of them, they were all stupid, shallow, and_ one night stands_. Obviously Hermione's already different because you two have clearly been going at it, but -"

"Oh for the love of Merlin, Pans, _shut up_." I groaned.

She started handing me different pants, shirts, and suit jackets while she continued rambling on about my sex life.

_Kill me._

"But," she said, continuing where she'd left off, "I'm just curious...why her? I mean_ I_ see why, but do you?"

What the hell did she mean, _she_ saw why? Like I wasn't capable of seeing why Granger was a great girl and -

_What the fuck was I doing?_

This was exactly what Pansy was trying to accomplish, and I wasn't going to let it happen. I wasn't about to start doubting myself. I was Draco fucking Malfoy. I slept with whoever I wanted, simply because I could.

"Well?" she asked again, handing me another pair of pants before pushing me into a dressing room.

"Well what, Pans?"

"Well what is it about her?"

"Didn't we discuss this already? She's hot."

"Didn't we discuss _that_ already? There are plenty of hot girls."

"Can we just drop it?"

"No. I've been sitting by watching you screw girl after girl since Sixth Year, and I'm done. Your mom's right about you needing to find a direction to go with your life, and Hermione just might be the best thing that's ever happened to you."

"It's just a job for -"

"Not the job, you idiot - _her._ Being around her, getting to know her -"

"I don't know her." I said, pulling on the first suit.

"You clearly know something about her, because she's staying with you."

I rolled my eyes and stepped out of the dressing room in the first suit she'd picked out.

"Not the right message." she said, pushing me back into the dressing room. "So, what is it?"

"For the love of Merlin, Pansy, let it go." I said, changing into the other suit.

"You're my closest friend, I want to know what's going on in your life. Especially when I think you're going to mess something up."

"What the fuck am I messing up?" I snapped, stepping out again.

She didn't seem phased by my tone, instead walking over to a rack of ties and pulling off three.

"Nothing, yet. Here, her dress is going to be one of these shades, so get all three and then we can go. Claude!"

The tailor came over and made marks about my measurements and then instructed me to change back into my clothes.

After I'd paid - and gotten those fucking red ties, despite the fact that I could have just as easily cast a spell on _one_ and made it match - Pansy and I were walking back on the street and I was stuck on what she'd said earlier.

"What did you mean I'm going to mess something up?"

She sighed, sliding her arm through mine again, and said, "You're a smart guy, Draco. You'll be great at whatever you choose to do, but you need to choose. You can't just push things off - like with the business, or with your personal life. It's fine to have fun and to mess around, but sooner or later you're going to have to start taking things seriously."

"I do take things seriously."

She sighed, and I had a feeling I wasn't going to like what she had to say next.

"From what I've heard, Hermione's life hasn't exactly been all roses, and whatever happened between her and Ron obviously added to it - I mean who wants to be divorced? - but she's strong, and she's _good._ She's one of the best people I know, and I just...I don't want you to break her."

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

"Draco, you have this way about you...you get people, especially girls, to trust you so easily, and if they don't trust you they get caught up in the way you are. Hermione's not like the girls you've been with. She's nice, and whether you - or she - admits it, you guys are entering dangerous territory."

"You can't seriously think I could affect Granger in -"

"Yeah, actually, I do think so. I know from personal experience that being close to you isn't easy, and I love you to death, you know that, but Hermione needs someone stable in her life, and that's not exactly you." she said softly.

Pansy and I had dated on and off back at Hogwarts, but we mostly just fucked around - by my choice, not hers - and I knew I was an asshole for doing it.

"I'm sorry."

"I know you are." she said with a smile, "And you _have_ changed, anybody can see that, but that part of you...it isn't so different."

"You don't know Granger."

"Neither do you, not from what you've said anyway."

I _didn't_ know Granger, but then again I knew something about her that no one else knew, so what did that say?

"What's your point, Pans?" I said, all too tired of this conversation.

"My point is that I think there's a reason, deeper than the fact that Hermione's _'hot',_ that you not only keep sleeping with her, but keep letting her live with you. All I'm saying is that maybe you should make an effort to get to know her better, because she could be good for you."

I wanted to argue, but she'd just pulled me inside Vera Wang, and I knew her main focus was going to be dresses for at _least_ the next hour.

"Do I really need to be here for -"

"Yes, because I need a dress that's going to knock Conner's socks off...and the rest of his clothes, while I'm at it." she said, winking at me.

I rolled my eyes and chuckled, resigning myself to my fate of shopping with Pansy.

I tried not to think about what we'd talked about, but it was hard. I didn't see her point, not really anyway.

Okay, at least I didn't _want_ to see her point. I was still young, I had plenty of time to figure out what I was doing.

And I wasn't doing anything with Granger.

Well _obviously_ I was doing things with Granger - _plenty_ of things - but that wasn't what Pansy was talking about.

I shook my head, shoving those thoughts away, and helped Pans carry five hundred dresses to the dressing room.

It was going to be a long day.

* * *

**HPOV**

Scared wasn't even the right word for what I was feeling.

_Terrified. Petrified. Panicked. Scared to death._

All of those seemed a bit better.

I didn't want to tell Harry and Ginny, but Malfoy had a point. Besides, nothing had really happened with Ron lately, other than the rude phone call here and there, so now would be as good a time as any to tell them what had really happened between Ron and I. I could even soften the blow a bit by saying that he might have changed, since I hadn't seen him in at least three weeks.

I walked up the steps to their little yellow house and knocked on the door before I completely chickened out.

Ginny swung open the door and smiled when she saw me, "Hey, Mione. Come on in."

The smell of food was in the air, and I remembered how much Ginny loved to cook.

"Where's Harry?" I asked, taking a seat at the table.

"He got called away on some Auror business. He said he was really sorry, but he'd swing by later and see you." said Ginny, setting food on the table.

"You know that I'm still not back at my old apartment, Gin."

"Oh...right. Why is that, again?"

I picked up my fork and tasted the grilled chicken she'd made - which was amazing, as it always was - as a way to buy time.

"Mione,"

I sighed and said, "This is actually why I came over to talk to you guys."

Maybe it was good that Harry wasn't here. That only would've made it harder.

"About why you're staying with Malfoy?"

I nodded slowly, taking a deep breath, "That's part of it, anyway...I came to tell you the truth about my marriage."

"What do you mean 'the truth'?" asked Ginny, eyes wide.

"There was a lot I didn't tell you - any of you."

"About your marriage."

I nodded, "Things were awful, Ginny. I know that I told you that we just hadn't worked out, because Ron didn't want to talk about anything, but that's not exactly true."

Ginny's face was a considerable shade paler, and I didn't know if I was going to be able to tell her the rest.

"Well what _is_ true?"

"We...he...no, you know what? This was a bad idea." I said, standing up.

Ginny stood up too and grabbed my hand, "Mione I'm your best friend, you know you can talk to me about anything - you can_ tell me_ anything."

"How am I supposed to tell you something so horrible?" I asked, tears springing to my eyes.

It wasn't fair of me to ruin Ginny's image of her brother. No matter how awful he was to me, he was _good_ with his family. I'd been around him enough to know that. I mean the only time he'd ever been bearable was when we were around his family.

"What happened?" asked Ginny, pulling me over to the couch.

And so I told her.

I told her every last thing that had happened since Ron and I had gotten married, and after the divorce. I told her about Malfoy, and his necklace. I told her about how he insisted I come stay with him after Ron broke into my house.

And she sat there, and she listened the whole time. She cried, but she didn't say anything, just let me get it all out, and when I did she pulled me into the tightest hug I think I'd ever been in in my life.

"I am_ so sorry_, Mione. I didn't know -"

"None of you did." I said, hugging her back, "It wasn't your fault. I didn't want anyone to know. You guys didn't deserve tha -"

"_We_ didn't deserve it? Hermione, _you_ didn't deserve it." she snapped, leaning back to look at me. "What Ron did...why didn't you tell us?"

"Because it was my fault. It was -"

"If you _ever_ say something stupid like that again - Hermione Jean Granger you are _perfect._ There is _nothing_ about you that would warrant something like that, do you hear me?" said Ginny, her fingers digging into my arm.

I couldn't do anything but nod, though it seemed to be enough for her, because she hugged me again before wiping her tears and standing up.

"Where are you going?"

"To call the police."

"What? Are you insane? No. I haven't even seen him in three weeks." I said, grabbing her hand and pulling her back down onto the couch.

"You can't just let him get away with this!"

"Look, I promise if something happens again, I'll call the police, but until then don't do anything. Please, Gin."

She looked conflicted, but finally nodded, "If he so much as shows up around you, you call the police."

I nodded. Anything to make sure she wouldn't call them now.

"Come on, I'll make some tea."

I followed her back into the kitchen, and after she'd made the tea she sat down.

"So, tell me about Malfoy."

I raised an eyebrow, "What's to tell?"

"Oh don't think I don't know something's going on. I remember that phone call where you hung up on me. It was because of him, wasn't it?" she asked, a smirk on her face.

"Oh shut up." I said, taking a sip of my tea.

She chuckled, "Fine, don't tell me yet, but I _know_ something's going on."

I rolled my eyes, "Whatever Ginny."

* * *

**Okay, I know, not too much interaction between Draco and Hermione, but this chapter obviously needed to happen. And maybe it'll get a little deeper between the two? Well, if Draco listens to Pansy...it's all up in the air for now.**

**Get your dresses girls, it looks like we're going to a ball.**

*****For those of you who aren't reading FWB you might not have heard this, but I'm going to be taking a break from writing after I finish FWB and (possibly) this story. Just a warning!*****

**Review lovelies!**


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